Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is among a growing number of Italians choosing Albania for their summer holidays this year and has made sure to compensate an Albanian restaurateur after a group of her compatriots left his restaurant without paying the bill.

Meloni and her family spent a few days this week in Albania at the invitation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

when the news that a group of Italians left a restaurant in the city of Berat without paying went viral in the Albanian media, Meloni mobilized, Edi Rama told La Stampa newspaper.

“Go and pay the bill for these idiots, please,” Meloni told the Italian ambassador to Albania, according to Rama.

Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy’s agriculture minister and Meloni’s son-in-law who was with her in Italy, said it was a matter of national pride.

“He offered to foot the bill. The ambassador was on his way back to Tirana and was available. A few crooks cannot disgrace a nation of honest people,” he said.

Edi Rama said in a TV interview this week that Albania expects 500,000 visitors from Albania this year. Many Italians avoided domestic travel this year due to high prices and traveled to Albania where accommodation and beach facilities are cheaper.