Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s trip to Italy sparked the latest battle in the city’s long-standing war with North End restaurateurs over outdoor dining, an accommodation she was criticized for enjoying overseas while not allowing in that neighborhood.

A group of restaurant owners suing the mayor over her decision to restrict outdoor dining in the North End seized on what they described as a “tale of two different Italian cities.” They compared the economic struggles Boston’s Little Italy is facing to the thriving restaurant scene in Sulmona, a city Wu visited that her office described as having “strong ties” to the North End through immigration.

The difference, the restaurateurs said during a Monday press conference, is outdoor dining.

“While the mayor has been visiting cities in Italy, dining outdoors and enjoying the beautiful weather, our coworkers here continue to lose income due to the policies being put forth by the city,” said Carla Gomes, owner of Terramia Ristorante.

Sulmona restaurants are thriving because their patrons have the option to eat outdoors in warm weather, but business in the city’s “iconic Italian-American neighborhood” is down 30%, according to North End owners.

The restaurateurs say the mayor’s dining restriction, limited, for the most part, to their neighborhood, has hurt their ability to compete with other parts of Boston. The North End ban started in 2023, and continued again this year.

“After a week in Italy, a place known for its outdoor cafes and al fresco dining, she should return with an understanding of the importance of food and community experience to the Italian people,” Gomes said. “I’m sure she enjoyed the Italian culture while there. She could enjoy the same experience here all summer long.”

In a Monday statement, Wu said the two areas aren’t comparable and that she “paid close attention to the details of outdoor patios in the multiple neighborhoods of Rome we visited, as well as in Sulmona and Coreno Ausonio.”

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“Rather than having densely packed tables in place of parking spots along the entire street, the majority of outdoor patios are on wide sidewalks, similar to other Boston neighborhoods, or on a flat piazza that isn’t meant for vehicular traffic,” Wu said. “In some areas, the sidewalk was specially built out to accommodate that restaurant’s patio and there are parking spots on either side.

“In Sulmona, local officials shared that they have been having problems with too many coffee shops and restaurants trying to do outdoor dining and actually scaling back permissions,” Wu added. “I didn’t see a single example of a street in Italy with the outdoor dining set up that the litigants are pushing.”

While unpopular with the owners, the mayor’s decision to ban on-street outdoor dining — due to quality of life issues such as increased noise, congestion, trash, and loss of parking — has been well-received by residents in the North End.