For a small seasonal business that’s substantial.
For example if you give a receipt and the customer misplaces it on the way out and can’t find anymore, you’re liable for tax evasion. Never mind that the POS has its own registry they can check. For the authorities, “you didn’t give a receipt, so they can’t tax you.”
When the restaurant was opened about 20 years ago, all sorts of departments came to check it out and suggest whatever ridiculous change.
Food safety in Italy however is probably among the best in the world due to this.
Honest question: is this actually the law, or a tactic of an official seeking a bribe?
German source:
https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/FAQ/2020-0...
That law requires shipowners to give a receipt and customers to keep it. Customers can be fined if, a few meters outside the shop, a policeman asks them to show their receipt, and the policeman has evidence they bought something or some service (https://www.accountingbolla.com/blog/sales-tax-in-italy-iva)
Even with the new EU laws regarding receipt, it's surprising how often you are told that you can't pay by card because the machine is broken, or that the waiter "accidentally" hands you the wrong kind of receipt (they hand you an order summary, which was not yet finalized and is not an official invoice, and after you pay they cancel everything so that the payment is not recorded).
There maybe be reasonable explanations.