wrote
In the EU, such contractual provisions are illegal, and you can often
get a good discount for paying cash (I think the fee the merchant pays
on a credit card purchase can approach 10%). I don't know how it works
for debit cards, as I've never seen the need to use one.

The EU is anti-freedom. shrug

While soccer is a big sport in Italy, tax evasion is even bigger. I've
gotten HUGE discounts for cash. The VAT is something like 20% now. I have
no idea what the fees are, but other factors are very important for cash.
The cost of the Euro still sucks, but it is down right now from where it was
so I figure I'm saving 10% this week anyway.