The McDonald’s response to the City of Florence has caused quite a stir after the fast food giant has filed an appeal with the Administrative Court Florence to claim $19.8 million (EUR 17.8 million) in damages.
The case dates back to last spring. At the time, McDonald’s applied for permission to open its tenth Florentine restaurant on the square of the famous cathedral.
Anxious to spare the city of Florence, the US giant had pledged to make its McDonald’s a “restaurant like the others”, as explained a spokesperson for the brand of fast food in Firenze Today.
But the city of Florence persisted and prevented the installation of the restaurant near the Duomo. The US firm, says it is outraged by what it sees as “a grave and manifest injustice”.
Piazza del Duomo, which alone attracts almost 3 million tourists each year, has since January been subjected to new regulation: to preserve Florence’s historical center and gastronomic heritage, the town prohibits the installation of restaurants using frozen products.
It also requires that restaurants in the historic center serve local products. Restaurants that do not meet these criteria may request a waiver.
To adapt to these regulations, McDonald’s had promised some overhaul of its production line, using 80% of local products as well as serving customers at the table.
But the compromise was deemed insufficient by the Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, who reiterated his opposition “to the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in Piazza del Duomo, but also in other historical and valuable places [the] historical center is a UNESCO heritage,” he told the Repubblica di Firenze.
The mayor is counting on support in his city: nearly 24 000 Florentines have signed a petition against the restaurant, and a wave of protests is thriving on social networks.
A giant picnic with Tuscan products was organized on July 13 on the square.
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