Building sandcastles on a Venice beach. Eating sandwiches
on the Spanish Steps. Hanging laundry on Florence’s streets. These are just
some of the many actions now officially considered ‘indecorous’ in Italian
towns and cities as municipal police across the country are actively enforcing
new local ordinances intended to clean up city streets and discourage
disruptive behaviour. A
wave of new regulations washed over the country at the same time Italian cities
and beaches swelled with foreigners eager to enjoy la dolce vita in the bel
paese. Unaware that some of the most banal actions may result in a stiff
fine, tourists risk becoming lawbreakers as Italy moves to resolve a nationwide
‘security emergency’.
An article published in Britain’s Independent,
‘Tourists Beware: If It’s Fun, Italy Has a Law Against It’,
warned readers of the rules in a new ‘prohibition era’ Italy. Expressing bewilderment
at the seemingly arbitrary laws recently passed by many Italian mayors, author
Peter Popham wondered about their efficacy: ‘Most of them will probably never
be enforced, but that will be scant consolation to the pigeon-feeder whose
holiday souvenirs include a large fine’.
According to
Popham, tourists are particularly likely to unwittingly transgress: ‘Unwary
foreigners risk getting hefty fines for doing things that are perfectly legal
everywhere in the world except the particular town or city where they find
themselves.’
The unprecedented
flowering of municipal restrictions stems from a recent national decree
granting mayors new powers to deal with crime and security by addressing the
many small infringements on aesthetics and ‘quality of life’ that often add up
to urban blight. When issues of street crime and safety came to the forefront
of political discourse after a series of controversial municipal ordinances
enacted by Florence’s centre-left government last year, Italian policymakers
used the example of Florence’s extension of mayoral powers to launch the
national effort.
As other
cities rushed to put new regulations on their books in the wake of the national
decree, Florence added more ordinances as well, all of which took
effect August 11. Champion of the new set of local rules, Florence safety superintendent Graziano Cioni, warns that
those who break them face fines ranging from 25 to 500 euro, with most around
160 euro.
While some of Florence’s 46 new municipal
ordinances take aim at crime (standing near churches, schools and residential
areas for the purposes of prostitution, for example, violates municipal law),
many focus on cleaning up the city. People who leave bottles or pour their
contents in streets and piazzas, litter (including dropping cigarette butts),
bathe in public fountains or urinate in public are subject to fines. (To
discourage the latter two, restaurants are now required to allow anyone,
whether a paying patron or not, to use their restrooms.) Dog owners must ‘scoop
the poop’ of their pooches, who must be both muzzled and leashed in public. Other ordinances aim to curb disruption. Public
drunkenness is prohibited, as is setting off fireworks and playing loud music
in public and private areas. Bar owners are responsible for limiting late-night
noise both inside and outside their properties.
Many
regulations focus on eliminating clutter and protecting the city’s monuments.
Chaining bikes to street poles and city monuments; driving scooters and
motorbikes in designated green areas; fastening flowers, ‘love locks’, photos,
notes, posters, fliers and the like to city walls, poles, fences and monuments;
leaving fliers on cars, in postal boxes or outside buildings and homes-all
illegal. Graffiti is prohibited. Those who climb over bridges or onto bridge
platforms now risk fines as well as personal safety.
Itinerant
street vending and ‘walking around with large and encumbering bags’ are subject
to fines. Also on the list: hanging laundry out to dry and shaking tablecloths
out of windows; dressing ‘indecently’ in churches and on the street; and using
the giglio symbol without municipal permission.
