Italian Supreme Court: Hotels Not Required to Provide Tap Water, Even for a Fee
Italy’s Court of Cassation has definitively ruled that restaurants and hotels are under no legal obligation to serve tap water to guests, even when they offer to pay, closing a years-long dispute sparked by a tourist’s stay at a five-star Dolomites hotel.
A holiday dispute escalates
A holiday in one of Italy’s most exclusive ski resorts turned into a six-year legal battle after a tourist from Rome was repeatedly denied a simple glass of tap water. During the Christmas holidays of 2019, the woman spent a week at the five-star Hotel Sassongher in Corvara, a village in the heart of the Dolomites. She had booked a half-board package without drinks, and each evening in the hotel restaurant she asked for tap water—even offering to pay for it—but the staff refused. Instead, they placed a 0.75-litre bottle of mineral water on her table, priced at €7.
Water is a natural resource and a universal human right, and the free provision of the minimum vital quantity necessary to meet basic needs must be guaranteed.
The tourist’s legal argument
Convinced she had been wronged, the tourist sued the hotel for approximately €2,700 in damages, citing economic loss and emotional distress. She argued that access to drinking water was as fundamental an amenity as clean bed linen or soap in the bathroom—something any guest would rightfully expect. Lower courts rejected her claim, but she persisted, taking the case all the way to Italy’s highest court of appeal.
Supreme Court’s final word
In a ruling issued at the end of April 2026, but widely reported only in late May, the Corte di Cassazione confirmed that Italian law imposes no duty on bars, restaurants, or hotels to serve tap water. The judges noted that a guest who wants tap water is free to “supply themselves autonomously” and that the hotel had correctly fulfilled the terms of the half-board contract. The decision was final and cannot be appealed.
The hotel’s policy is to serve only tightly sealed bottled water at the tables—a practice, he added, that is common in many exclusive establishments.
A cultural and regulatory divide
The case highlights a deep cultural rift: in Italy, asking for free tap water in a restaurant is often considered a breach of etiquette, while in countries such as the United Kingdom, licensed premises are legally required to provide it upon request. Although a European Union directive encourages member states to promote the availability of tap water in catering establishments, it does not impose a binding obligation. For now, in Italy, the choice remains entirely with the proprietor.
