L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 6 T his is w hat many came to think, when the F lorence city council emitted an ordinance, w hich took effect on September 4 and will last until January 6 2019, banning people from eating on the sidewalks and on front of the shops of four popular Florentine streets: Via de' Neri, Piazzale degli Uffizi, Piazza del Grano and Via della Ninna: we are talk- ing about one of the most beauti- ful and unique areas in the world, the city centre of Flo- rence, a place protected by UNESCO and known for its cul- tural and aesthetic wealth. Having a public snack in any of these very central, very popu- lar streets may cost you a fine between 150 and 500 euro (175 to 580 USD, roughly). Even though the ban only affects these areas and only in specific times of the day, 12 to 3 pm and 6 to 10 pm, the news, one can easily imagine, have caus ed s ome commotion worldwide, especial- ly when the existence of ronde anti-panino, official groups in charge of checking that no one snacks around too much, became known. Before looking into people's upheaval, it may be worth under- standing why the city decided to take such drastic restrictive mea- sures. According to sources, the goal of the ordinance is keeping the "decorum and the livability of the area," profoundly affect- ed, the Florence city council continues, by the chaos and filth caused by distracted or disre- spectful tourists consuming their meals and snacks on the go and littering around. It is not only a matter of cleanliness, though, but also of business: during high season, the presence of large groups of peo- ple basically camping in front of shop entrances to rest and have a sandwich has been causing numerous problems to owners, who often found themselves forced into heated diatribes with tourists using their doorstep as an impromptu dinner table: cer- tainly not the best image for potential customers to see. A shop owner who dared com- plaining about the dirt, has even been attacked by a group of tourists. Locals tried to take the matter into their hands before recurring to legal actions: they began patrolling their streets, hopeful that kindness could be sufficient to make hungry tourists understand littering and being obnoxious outside stores and homes was something Flo- rence did not deserve. They were wrong, because the mayhem continued. So local shops own- ers and residents asked mayor Dario Nardella to do something officially and the city council delivered. Florence is certainly not the only city in Italy - nor in the world, for that matter - to have a hard time with the very people bringing in wealth and populari- ty, tourists. In May, Venice allowed access to certain areas only to residents and habitual visitors, while in Rome eating near important monuments such as the Fontana di Trevi or Piazza di Spagna's scalinata hasn't been possible for quite some time. Yet, Florence is probably the town which took the matter more seriously. A previous ordi- nance, emitted not long ago, wants churches' stairways around town hosed regularly to discourage tourists' lounging and sitting on them. At the very heart of the prob- lem is one of the four streets where the anti-bivacco ordinance has been implemented, the already mentioned Via de' Neri, home to incredibly popular tradi- tional Florentine street food hub All'Antico Vinaio. The tradition- al eatery, founded in 1991 by Daniele Mazzanti, has become so incredibly popular among resi- dents and tourists to have opened three more locations in the street, virtually transforming Via de' Neri into the heart of traditional street food in Florence. Everyone wanted a bite of those lampredot- to sandwiches and the amount of people eating around in the street increased, sometimes, as said, with deleterious results. Needless to say, the anti-pani- no ordinance caused plenty of criticism, beginning with food outlets operating in the areas touched by the ban, which are afraid to see their businesses suf- fering from it: in the end, what's the point to buy a sandwich if I can't eat it straight away? With a delightful example of pure British humor, The Guardian recently warned visitors of the Tuscan city about the risks of enjoying their sandwiches out- doors, suggesting to run to their hotel to do it. Filth is filth, but can a city forbid people to eat in the street? Well, the truth, as philosophers taught us, lies somewhere in the middle, if you ask me. The real problem isn't street food per se, but the lack of civilization and manners of many - alas, too many - visitors to our beautiful country: of course, forbidding people to eat their snacks in the street may seem an excess, but the situation had truly become unbearable: why should residents and well behaved tourists, as well as local store owners, pay the consequences of other peo- ple's rudeness and lack of respect? Why should we see the heart of one of Italy's most beau- tiful cities vilified by filth and negligence? When all other methods fail, then sometimes it's right to take out the bigger guns. Pity that this "taking out the bigger guns" may cause more problems than it solves and is likely to, ultimately, damage the very people it has been imple- mented to protect: tourists will happily move somewhere else to get their sandwiches, then they'll return home and think nothing of the food ban in Florence. Local food businesses, on the other hand, may pay the consequences of decreasing sales for months after the last piece of garbage has unceremoniously touched the glorious soil Dante's city. And people will keep on drinking their cans of lager on front of churches, throw plastic bottles in the Fontana di Trevi and sit on front of our doors, bans or not, just because humani- ty sometimes seems to have for- gotten manners and common sense, everywhere in the world. The real issue at stake, it seems to me, isn't really the food ban, but the rampant lack of val- ues, manners and respect for people, art and spirituality we've been experiencing around the globe for too many years now, the consequences of which are ordinances and regulations bare- ly deign to be applied in an ele- mentary school playground. Yet, what else do we have left to do, if those around behave that way? Do we really have to let irre- sponsibility, rudeness and crass- ness violate our heritage and art, the very soul of our countries and identities? The city of Florence banned consumption of food in four of its more central streets © Antonio Gravante | Dreamstime.com Residents and local store owners have been complaining about tourists loitering and littering the streets © Mario Man- cusoe | Flickr FRANCESCA BEZZONE Is Florence declaring war to street food? NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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