Tourists can be refused tap water, Italy's top court rules

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Italy’s highest court has ruled a five-star Dolomites hotel was acting lawfully when it refused to provide tap water to a tourist.

The woman unsuccessfully argued that “water is a natural resource and a universal human right” after a waiter only offered her €7 (£6) bottled mineral water at the restaurant of the five-star Hotel Sassongher in Corvara during the 2019 ski season.

The Italian Supreme Court denied her request for €2,700 to compensate her for emotional distress and economic damage, Italian media reports.

Silvio Belardi, the lawyer representing the hotel, is quoted in the newspaper Corriere Alto Adige as saying the court held that “there is no obligation to supply tap water”.

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Media reports say she initially filed the claim in a lower court in Rome. They have not confirmed her identity nor background.

She claimed her consumer rights were violated when staff refused her request for tap water, saying it was a key part of the hotel’s service and likened it to “finding a bed with sheets” and “soap in the bathroom”.

Supreme Court judges dismissed her claim, ruling that Italian laws and regulations do not mandate venues to provide tap water to guests and that the decision to serve it is up to individual venues.

Licensed venues across England and Wales are legally required to serve free drinking water upon request.

The BBC has approached Hotel Sassongher for further comment.