Police were yesterday scouring Europe for a German couple who abandoned three small children in a pizzeria in the north-west Italian town of Aosta on Sunday evening and have not been seen since. The couple, Ina Caterina Remhof, 26, the mother of the children, and her partner, Sascha Schmidt, 24, brought the children, aged six, four and eight months, into the Il Capanno pizzeria. They took a table together and placed their orders like any other family of tourists, according to the restaurant's manager, Carmello Casella. But about 45 minutes later, while the children were still eating, the couple stood up and told Mr Casella that they were going outside for a smoke. When they failed to return the restaurant staff became worried and called the police.