Metro

Tourist in jail ordeal

An Italian tourist got to add a night in jail to his Big Apple itinerary after he racked up a $208 bill at a Midtown steakhouse — but couldn’t pay because he left his wallet behind.

Graziano Graziussi, 43, said he begged workers at Smith & Wollensky Monday night to let him leave an iPhone as collateral while he got money from the apartment where he was staying — but they instead called cops, who were equally unsympathetic.

“I found it completely unreasonable to call the police when I was coming up with possible solutions,” he told The Post yesterday. “I wasn’t going to run away. I was there, I had just forgotten my wallet.”

Cops asked Graziussi, who had dined solo, if he could have someone deliver the wallet or recite his credit-card number for the restaurant — but he could not and was taken into custody, law- enforcement sources said.

A judge released Graziussi the next morning, on the promise he’d pay up.

“I don’t think they should have arrested me in the first place,” he said.

“I wanted to pay the check.”

A rep for Smith & Wollensky’s management company declined to comment.

A manager and bartender at the restaurant last night said it’s standard practice to call cops when a customer can’t pay the tab.