Business owner found dead after internet storm on prejudice

The owner of an Italian pizzeria at the centre of an internet storm concerning homophobia on one hand and an ostensible marketing ploy on the other has been found dead.

The ANSA news agency reported on Monday.

The body of the woman who owned “Le Vignole” in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano in the north of the country was found on Sunday on the bank of a river near her pizzeria.

She came to public attention following her sharp response to a patron who complained in an online post that he had to sit next to “a number of gay men” and to a “boy in a wheelchair who could eat only with difficulty.’’ The post is reported to have been deleted.

The pizzeria owner was praised for her response in telling the patron that he was no longer welcome in her restaurant. Repeated social media contributions then cast doubt on her version of events.

A well-known journalist suggested it had been invented and accused the woman of a marketing ploy.

The cause of her death remains unclear, and an autopsy has been ordered. Police found the woman’s car on the river bank where her body was found.