Hotel Villa Sorriso

We are deeply upset and disappointed by what happened at this hotel in Italy. Money and an expensive watch were stolen from our room. The loss caused us financial damage and serious stress, and completely ruined the peace of our vacation. The owner and management have a legal duty to protect the safety and security of guests under Article 1218 of the Italian Civil Code, which concerns liability for breach of contract, and Article 2043, concerning harm caused by unlawful acts. We believe there are serious grounds to suspect hotel negligence led to a theft, an offense punishable under Article 624 of the Italian Penal Code. From our conversations with staff and their behavior, we became seriously suspicious that the theft was arranged from inside. The thief acted deliberately around 3 a.m., using a ladder and seeming confident about which room was unlocked. This makes us fear that someone on the hotel staff either helped or shared information. That would be extremely alarming and unacceptable. After the incident, management called the police. Instead of adequate compensation, we were offered a free one-day visit to a water park for children and a transfer to another hotel. We saw this not as goodwill, but as an attempt to cover up the case and possibly protect accomplices. The stress led us to want to leave two days early, so we asked for a refund for the unused nights. They refused and treated us as if we were at fault. They also denied issuing an invoice on the spot, which we believe violated Article 21 of the Italian VAT Law (IVA – DPR No. 633/1972), requiring an invoice to be issued immediately when the customer asks. We were also not given a fiscal receipt (*scontrino fiscale*) when we paid. We believe this violated Article 2, paragraph 1 of Legislative Decree No. 127/2015, which requires traders and service providers, including hotels, to issue an invoice or receipt for each payment. The violation is subject to the fine set out in Article 6 of Legislative Decree No. 471/1997, and raises serious concerns for us about hidden revenue and tax evasion. Giving us an email address for the stated purpose of “sending later” an invoice or receipt does not, in our view, remove the obligation to issue the document at payment or replace proper compliance with tax law. We ask the competent authorities to investigate both the theft and any possible tax or administrative violations by the hotel. We seek compensation for the material and moral harm we suffered, as well as the breach of trust and security.