Restaurants serve up a plate of solidarity for Italian earthquake

AN ITALIAN restaurant in Leeds will be serving up an extra special dish in aid of the recent earthquake which devastated the small Italian town of Amatrice. 

Livin’ Italy will be making donations for every special dish they sell to help those still being affected by the earthquake this month.

Having grown up in Italy, director Mattia Boldetti felt personally affected by the disaster.

He said: “While living on the Alps for some years I’ve seen first handed what kind of destruction avalanches, floods and other environmental disasters can cause.”

After researching the earthquake, Mattia wanted to help the people who had been displaced by the natural disaster.

“We soon understood that was the best way for us to contribute, doing what we know, which is cook and serve Italian food,” he added.

The restaurant said: “To show some love and solidarity for our afflicted compatriots, we’ve joined up with Italian restaurants around the world to cook up pasta all’Amatriciana.”

The dish – which is one of the town’s classics – consists of spaghetti in a tomato sauce with pork cheek and pecorino cheese and will be on offer for the “foreseeable future” at the Granary Wharf eatery.

For every dish that the restaurant serves up, Livin’ Italy will donate £2 to the Italian Red Cross to provide food and clothes for those in need.

The earthquake took the lives of nearly 300 locals and left thousands more homeless in the town which was reduced to rubble.