Rome:

Some people manufacture cars; others shoes. Piero Lombardo manufactures alibis. And he sells them, too. The Sicilian-born, Bucharest-based restaurateur is the founder of an agency which, for a fee, will supply anyone with a cover story and the evidence to back it up.

If, say, a man wants to slip off for a weekend with his mistress, but wants his wife to think he is at a conference in Paris, the Babalucio agency will create that illusion.

“We’d provide a diploma, written in French, to show he’s attended, some books of matches with the name of the hotel, and then, if wanted, some little presents for the wife —not an Eiffel Tower, that’s too obvious, but maybe some scent or a scarf. Then we’d courier out the whole package.”

The cost varies according to the demands of the client, but a service like the one described would set back the misbehaving husband between Euro 600-1,000.

Optional extras include a telephone-answering service: Babalucio provides a number, supposedly that of the conference organiser or hotel that redirects to Bucharest where the resourceful Lombardo will tell callers that his client is not available but will call back shortly.

His most elaborate ruse to date was the organisation of a nonexistent marathon. “The man finished third. None of it was true. But when he went back to Italy he had a cup and newspaper cuttings to prove it.”

Lombardo went into the alibi business two years ago. “Foreigners would come to Romania for, say, a trade fair. They’d come

to my restaurant, meet some pretty girl and they’d say, ‘How can I arrange to come back to Romania? I need an excuse.’”

But, he insists, it’s not all about infidelity. Since Babalucio opened a website (www.babalucio.ro), Lombardo has provided excuses by email for all sorts of clients, including a woman who was being pressed to go on a business trip by a boss she feared had ulterior motives.

“Most of those who’ve got in touch have been women — 70 per cent so far,” he says.