The completely shelled mollusc is part of the great contemporary trend for convenience at the expense of quality, and the result is rather unappealing too. Without the shells, you’ve stripped away the whole presentation and half the flavour. I’d expect this from the Americans, but what about us?

A brief account of an evening in the Land of Plenty, recreated on the outskirts of Bergamo to mark the sixtieth anniversary of ‘Da Vittorio’, in the style of ‘Zeus’s law’: guests are welcomed with courtesy, without making them feel like a burden