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Open in new tab It is the question every woman has asked – how George Clooney spent his final hours as the world’s most eligible bachelor.
But now the secrets of Clooney’s sophisticated stag do at a restaurant in Venice have been revealed. While many make do with a trip to the local pub, the Hollywood heartthrob feasted on a £3,000 dinner with six friends.
Clooney, 53, tucked into five courses, sending back for seconds of risotto. He then finished it off with three ice creams and took away three more to enjoy on his last night as a single man. The following day he married British barrister Amal Alamuddin, 36, in a lavish £8m wedding.
The Ristorante Da Ivo did not ask Clooney to pay for the meal, settling instead for a modest tip. Giovanni Fracassi, the restaurant manager, said: “For a man getting married 10 hours later, he was really eating a lot. “He sent back for seconds of a big plate of risotto, both times wiping his plate clean with chunks of bread.”
Clooney and his guests gave only 10 minutes notice, before arriving by boat and then ploughing through antipasto, pasta with truffles, two helpings of mushroom risotto, strawberries with vinegar, and zabaglione, an Italian desert made with eggs and sugar. They washed the meal down with shots of tequila and £250 bottles of vintage wine.
Fracassi said: “No, he didn’t pay for his night, I didn’t want him to.” The tip was “not much, like you would do for a friend”.
The actor has given Fracassi a signed drawing in the past of a man that looks like Clooney saying “Grazie, a perfect night!”. Clooney has also sketched him a mooning man on a plate with the words “La Luna!”.
Fracassi said the party included Rande Gerver, the husband of model Cindy Crawford, Clooney’s manager, his co-producer, and two people Fracassi did not recognise. Just before they arrived, Clooney’s assistant had called to ask for a table “for someone important”.
With the restaurant full, Fracassi said he pleaded with four diners – two British and two American – to give up their table, offering to pay for their drinks.
Fracassi said: “I was very surprised when I saw who it was. “After the preparations I went to welcome them, and once out from the boat, he just said, ‘Ciao, Giovanni.’ “You could see he was happy. “He was wearing an Armani suit; he was so elegant.”