On Minister for Foreign Affairs Emma Bonino instructions, the Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Italy interceded to draw the attention of local authorities to the case of a Viennese pub whose menu referred ironically to Mafia victims such as Giovanni Falcone and Peppino Impasto. As reported by the media, the incident was considered as offensive by the local Italian community in Vienna as well as by public opinion in Italy.
In particular, it was pointed out to the Austrian authorities that the distorted and commercial exploitation of the names of persons who had distinguished themselves in the struggle against the mafia was not only in bad taste but highly offensive to the memory of persons who had paid with their lives for those efforts and disrespectful of those who continue to labour on a daily basis to eradicate the mafia blight, and was therefore to be considered unacceptable.
