A Highgate restaurant boss has insisted he stands by every word of the stunningly bitter farewell he sent to villagers when he closed down.
Marco Claudio Valente, owner of Don Ciccio on Hampstead Lane, offered a remarkable parting jab at the area's well-heeled residents for 'never supporting us, not even once' as it shut its doors for the final time this week.
The restaurateur, who opened the place in 2019, wrote in a bitter final website post that 'bad food, bad reviews, or bad luck' were not at fault, rather potential patrons ordering takeaways elsewhere - leaving staff 'humiliated' by empty dining rooms.
The eatery served traditional Italian fare, including pizzas costing up to £18 and a risotto priced at £26, and was named Traveller's Choice on Tripadvisor between 2023 and 2025.
But locals taking their daily stroll past Don Ciccio, which backs onto billionaire's row The Grove - home to the likes of George Michael, Kate Moss, Jamie OIiver and Sting over the years - got used to seeing a cluster of unfilled seats in the restaurant's dark interior.
Unfazed by torrential backlash to his remarks - which blamed the closure on residents' 'sheer indifference' - Mr Valente doubled down on the comments and stoically said: 'You can't be liked by everyone!'
Speaking after a speedy exit to Rome, the restaurant owner told the Daily Mail: 'I spent six years in Highgate. We tried to do everything, and despite that, we are the only Italian restaurant, probably in the world, that needs to close, not for any bad reviews, prices, quality of food or the service, but just for the indifference around us.
'Of course I stand by my words. They are still there [online].


'We had a lot of very nice customers, but it was very tough. We were struggling there and were somehow humiliated in this place.'
Despite boasting a 4.7 out of 5 rating on Google, the reality for Don Ciccio was often empty tables and idle staff, with some days passing by with just one or two customers entering the restaurant's lime green doors.
He added: 'When you are an Italian restaurant, and sometimes you do just £40 or £45 per day total revenue, it is very frustrating. It's very humiliating.
'Probably we could have been supported better by the community. I'm not saying anything bad against Highgate or the people around us. The point is that nobody supported us, and we were probably the only Italian restaurant in the world making £40 revenue a day.'
All this despite a wealthy potential client base, who live in homes averaging almost £1million.
'An Italian restaurant does not need rich people instead of poor people or normal people,' Mr Valente said. 'We only need people. It doesn't matter how rich the wallets of these people are.
'I've asked my self, "what's the problem?" and we can definitely say the problem is not on us.'
The restaurant owner is currently holed out in Italy's capital - but not for long. He's planning a speedy return to the city he loves, despite the rejection from the neighbourhood he called home for six years.


'I'm going to come back,' he said. 'I'm a bit touched at the moment about what happened with Don Ciccio so I don't think I will have any strength in the near future to open another Italian restaurant.
'I have a true passion for hospitality, for food, drinks and welcoming people. So why not? Probably my passion will drive me again in the future.
'If Londoners wish to have us, we can open another restaurant, but London needs to become the London that it was in the past.'
When the Daily Mail visited the plush neighbourhood in the north of the capital this week, businesses and locals painted a picture of a reclusive owner whose first major involvement in the area was to throw its residents under the bus so publicly.
Chris Underhill of Prickett & Ellis estate agents, just down the road from Don Ciccio, told the Daily Mail the row reminded him of a similarly bitter exit made by a nearby bubble tea spot two years ago.
'They came out saying, "these people don't support business, they're supposed to be all rich people", and it backfired on them,' he recalled. 'People said, "well, you're charging eight pounds for a sandwich, we don't spend silly money".
'I've heard mixed reports. I'm embarrassed to say I've been to virtually every restaurant in Highgate, but not there.
'It always seems closed, always looked closed. I was going to go once with a couple of mates for lunch, but they were closed.'
The estate agent, who has lived in the area for 50 years and organises the popular annual Christmas lights ceremony, explained that many restaurants fail by having the same attitude as Don Ciccio.
He added: 'When businesses open in Highgate, they say, "Highgate is filled with millions, we will cash in", but the reason why local people are successful and rich is because they're sensible.
'They will not tolerate being ripped off, although I don't know what the prices were like there.
'If you look at the competition, every pub in the village has decent gastro food, some of them award-winning. I've been in the village forever and I never heard anyone say, "oh you must go".'
In the farewell rant, Don Ciccio singled out the Highgate Society for an especially sharp jab for 'never replying to any of our proposals for collaboration'.
The Highgate Society has 1,400 paying members and works closely with local authorities and various London bodies on a range of issues, mainly environmental.
But Mr Underhill thinks the closing Italian restaurant should have learned from the actions of new coffee shop, Urban Baristas, who are already proving a hit among Flat White fans just months after opening.
'I went in there and they immediately stepped up to be sponsors for the Christmas lights. They've put their money where their mouth is, they're going to get a huge amount of publicity from it and the 1200 people there need to go for food or coffee or something.

'When local pubs rebranded, their staff came around giving out leaflets and discounts, encouraging people to come in.
'That never really happened. I felt you can't just blame the community if you don't engage.'
Don Ciccio was faced with immediate challenges on opening, battling through the Covid pandemic in its first year.
In its closing statement, the restaurant pointed out how it had confounded critics expecting it to 'close within three months', reminding naysayers they 'were were only off by five years and nine months'.
It added: 'We are guests in this country, and as guests, we will not complain. We'll simply say: addio. And now, with gratitude.
'To our faithful customers - we'll miss you. Perhaps one day we'll meet again, in Italy.'
Mr Underhill accepted that this 'authentic' Italian side had always been there, but said: 'I'm sure in Italy, they engage with the community.'
Don Ciccio lay on the corner just off the busy high street, which Mr Underhill said was not the easiest spot to trade on - but he went on to add that a hairdresser next door had enjoyed success for decades.

He said: 'They've built up their client base, and that's helping them survive.'
Mario Seyho, who runs local newsagent Brooksby, said he had some sympathy for the failed business but suggested they might have made a more graceful exit.
'He said "f*** off" Highgate",' he laughed. 'He's upset - every business is upset. Nobody was going to his restaurant.
'I met the guy - he made good pizza. He's got a point. My business is s***, customers are going to Muswell Hill, Crouch End, Hampstead. We never get any other people and Highgate people are going the other way.
'How many times have restaurants at that spot closed down? The one over the road from me has got problems.
'He made a good risotto for me, but he can be right and wrong. It's bad to tell people to f*** off [Don Ciccio's owner did not use this word in his farewell statement]. It's not nice. He could say it a different way.'
Speaking in his empty newsagent, Mr Seyho said that the predominantly small businesses in Highgate have a tough time coping with the high rents there.
Don Ciccio did not mention rents in its aggressive statement, placing the blame solely on a lack of diners and suggesting it 'may be the first Italian restaurant to close...for the sheer indifference of our neighbours'.

And this indifference was on show in Mr Seyho's newsagents, a quick straw poll of customers yielding not a single former Don Ciccio diner.
Mr Seyho added: 'He was a good guy. I don't know why he said that, he probably got very upset.
'He asked me, "how's business, I'm struggling", and I said it's going to get better. I ran a restaurant for 17 years.
'But Highgate is not the right place. If a business is paying more than £25,000 rent, you lose.'
Saborino, from the local petrol station, had less sympathy and said the only people the failed restaurant could blame were themselves.
'He's blaming someone else? He should blame the chef or the menu or something like that,' he said.
'It's bull**** to blame someone else. You need to survive. It's bitter.
'I've never been to the place or spoken to the guy. It's too expensive.

'It's rude. You cannot blame anyone. You have to blame yourself. It's crazy.'
The family running the petrol station have been in business for years and are clear proof that shops are not automatically doomed to fail in this part of north London.
As are the Red Lion and Sun, a pub whose rebrand a decade ago brought the locals streaming back in, culminating in it being awarded Best Pub in the Country at the Great British Pub Awards in 2018.
Speaking from behind a busy bar, Wayne said: 'I remember passing [Don Ciccio] many times, and it was always empty.
'I've never been in myself.
'We're busy here. Everyone has struggles but generally it's good.'
John, who works at a different estate agents on Highgate High Street, said that he was not aware of fellow businesses having much contact with the people running Don Ciccio.
'Restaurants come and go. I don't eat out around here very much.

'I can't even remember them coming in during their first year of business to say "hi, come and see us", or offering a Christmas deal or anything.
'I wasn't really aware of them trying to do any promotions.
'They lasted six years and I was surprised it was that long. I didn't hear any gossip about it, so no one was bad mouthing it.'
Families living in the roads opposite Don Ciccio told the Daily Mail they had either given up on their local Italian years ago, or had never bothered with it in the first place.
Kate Reade said: 'During Covid we bought very nice pizzas from them but when we went to go there again after Covid we found it far too expensive, and a bit old fashioned.
'We didn't actually stay and eat, even though we had reserved a table beforehand.
'It was disappointingly expensive.'
Another local said: 'Restaurants go out of business every day.
'It was always half empty - that's it.
'My feeling is that if I'm going out, I want to go somewhere that's not Highgate, because I live here.
'I work from home, so it's kind of nice to go somewhere else, so I'm not that interested in going to local restaurants. I'd rather go to Muswell Hill or Crouch End, Hampstead or Belsize Park, but a walk across the road for me, doesn't sound like a very exciting night out.'
A man living in a road off Hampstead Lane, just yards from Don Ciccio, said: 'It's always been a kind of haunted corner. There was Zizzi's there before and then a juice bar, they all close down.
'I went in there with my girlfriend once. That spot keeps getting closures. They've had so many options and none of them land.
'I had no negatives to say about it. I didn't know people who went there.'
Another resident added that they had never been to Don Ciccio, nor did they know anyone else who had visited the Italian restaurant.