By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
VOLTERRA, Italy (Reuters) - In what might be Italy's mostexclusive restaurant, security is understandably tight.
On reservation, guests are subjected to a background check.They are admitted in groups, their mobile phones and bagsconfiscated, and they then submit to metal detector tests.
At the candlelit tables inside a deconsecrated chapel ofwhat was originally a 14th-15th century castle, the meal itselfis eaten with plastic cutlery.
But even though this is the Fortezza Medicea top-securityprison, the white wine -- Fattoria Sorbaiano -- keeps flowing.
"The standard of the food is fantastic -- the atmosphere,the people, and the place is incredible," said diner SharonKennedy, a resident of Volterra but originally from Scotland,who came to sample a special dinner at the prison.
The inmates at the jail in the picturesque Tuscan town --surrounded by rolling green hills and brown-tiled villas --have swapped their slacks for shirts and bow ties for a night.They are cooking up a sumptuous meal for curious diners whowant to sample a taste of prison life.
Part of a project raising money for charity, the aim isalso to teach cooking and waiting skills that could help theprisoners find work when they are released.
The scheme, for several nights a year turning the prisoninto a restaurant, began in 2006. Guests reserve a table forthe meal priced at 35 euros (28 pounds) a head through a localtourism agency, which also offers hotels for long-distancediners.
Surrounded by watch towers and security devices, thewaiters smile and joke with guests, who number about 100, asthey serve tuna tartare in citrus fruit rinds, pate with sweetwine and couscous with fish. Also on tonight's menu: a tomatopuree and carpaccio with salad leaves and parmesan.
For desert, a strawberry torte.
"It is not just a distraction, it is more than that," said39-year old inmate Arena Aniello. Originally from Naples, hehas been in jail since 1993 for homicide: tonight, he is awaiter.
"(Prison life) is like a photocopy machine -- you leaveyour cell, you go to work, you work out -- the day is alwaysthe same, it becomes a habit. So this is a great thing."
The prison dinners are one of several initiatives in Italydirected at teaching inmates job skills: women in Milan's SanVittore jail are learning tailoring skills, in a similar bid tohelp rehabilitate them after their jail term.
PERMISSION TO USE A KNIFE
In the kitchen, pots are boiling and ovens are bakingaround Philippine cook and inmate Joseph Harder, as he lays outfine layers of carpaccio on plates.
"Cooking is my passion," he said, declining to disclose thecrime for which he was inside. Besides working under armedguard, the main restriction on him is that he must askpermission if he wants to use a knife.
"Plenty of (people) outside ... think we are here becausewe've been bad outside, and that's all, and we want to prove tothem that we are not like that."
The dinners have been very successful: tables are booked upwell in advance and one diner said he drove his family of sevensome 200 km (124 miles) for the experience.
The 30-strong team of cooks, kitchen hands, waiters andsommeliers has been carefully selected. There are 150 prisonersat Fortezza Medicea, and those in for crimes linked to Mafia,drug-trafficking and kidnapping do not participate.
This year for the first time, chefs from regionalrestaurants are working with the inmates.
"The aim is for our chefs to get more professional ... andto allow people to come stay in a prison, which opens up itselfto the city," prison director Mariagrazia Giampiccolo said.
For the inmates -- who also have a tailor's workshop,theatre and school in the prison -- the contact with theoutside world is a welcome change.
"Serving people has never been something to be proud of butit is a way to relate with people," said Francois, who was bornin Senegal, and would add only that he had been in jail "for avery long time".
"We don't exchange ideas but compared to the dailymonotony, it is a big change, new faces. It is more fun thanstaying in a cell."
(Additional reporting by Chris Helgren; Editing by SaraLedwith)
