TRAVEL NEWS | ITALY
Hey, no munching near Rome's monuments
An ordinance in Rome bans snacking near artistic and historical sites in an effort to preserve the areas. The rule also cracks down on loitering, littering and vagrancy.
Don't chow, bella! At least not on the steps of Roman monuments.
City Hall is banning all those enjoying a Roman holiday this summer from snacking near the sights in Rome's historical center by fining food miscreants as much as $80.
Officials say they want to preserve artistic treasures and decorum in a city that draws millions of visitors every year.
The ordinance also bans the homeless from setting up makeshift beds and cracks down on drunks, litterbugs and nighttime revelers loitering in central areas.
It says that unless the situation is kept under control, misbehaving visitors will "irreparably damage the preservation of historical and art areas and monuments and the possibility to enjoy them."
The ban, passed on July 10, stays in effect until the end of October.
Rome, which also passed a measure cracking down on street vendors, is the most recent Italian city to take steps to protect its monuments and limit the effects of mass tourism.
Venice banned picnics in public places and bare torsos in St. Mark's Square; Florence is clamping down on squeegee men who wash the windshields of idling cars and demand payment.
Some tourists lamented that the Roman ban had not been posted and noted that there were viable alternatives for tourists who want to avoid the expensive cafes that tack on a surcharge for their outdoor tables.
"It's just another way to rip tourists off," said Kristin Benner, a 22-year-old student from Annapolis, Md.
Bruce Armstrong, a 50-year-old architect from Chicago who was traveling to the Italian capital with his wife and three children, said the emphasis should be on preventing litter, with stiff fines for offenders and more trash cans.
"But if they don't allow tourists to have, say, a cappuccino, a gelato or a sandwich near a monument, that's unfortunate," Armstrong said.
It's still unclear whether police in Rome can enforce the anti-snack measure, given the abundance of artistic sites in the city and its summer influx of tourists. In the first five months of 2008 , at least 7.6 million people visited Rome.
City official Davide Bordoni said police would have to use their judgment in deciding when to intervene. "It is obvious that some situations must be tolerated," he told the AP Television News.
So far, police have patrolled sites such as the Spanish Steps, preventing tourists from sipping drinks while sitting on the 18th century stairway, which is a symbol of the city.
Three Tunisian men eating and drinking beer on the Spanish Steps were among the first to be fined, according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera daily.
 Should we take offense, order a drink, or what? That depends, of course, on where you think these words turned up. |
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