The beautiful city of Milan – hugely popular with British ytourists – is further tightening its legislation on smoking in public places in a bid to become a cigarette-free city.
From January 1, people will not be able to smoke even outside, except when standing more than 10 metres away from other people.
Smoking will be banned in all public spaces or spaces for public use. This means that in parks or streets, but also on café terraces, with smokers facing fines ranging from €40 (£33) up to €240 (£198).
Milan was the first Italian city to impose a crackdown on cigarette smoking in public places.
The new regulations come amid amendments to the air quality regulations, which had already been significantly tightened in 2021 – seeing the banning of smoking in green spaces, bus queues and sports areas.
The ban has only previously been applied to cerain areas of Milan, but has now been extended to the whole city.
The municipality is basing its decision on data from Arpa Lombardia, the regional environmental protection agency, which shows that smoking is responsible for 7% of fine dust emissions. According to the study, this pollution is harmful far beyond the smokers themselves.
Elena Grandi, he Councilor for the Environment and Green of the Municipality, told La Stampa: “This second step regarding the smoking ban, which extends, in fact, to the entire city the ban already in force in various areas and zones, is first and foremost an awareness-raising action.”
This aims to “discourage lifestyles that we know are harmful to the health of all people, not just smokers”.
Residents and tourists will now have to find spaces at least ten metres away from others.
The measure only concerns tobacco smoke, but the use of electronic cigarettes is allowed.
The municipality has promised that this second phase will be much more of a deterrent and aims to encourage a cultural change, as few fines have been issued to date.
“That is why we are counting on everyone’s cooperation,” explains the councillor. “I am happy that this measure is finding support from the scientific world.”
In fact, the crackdown on smoking has been appreciated, among others, by Pier Mannuccio Mannucci, the former scientific director of the Policlinico and an expert on the problems arising from smoking.
Grandi concluded: “We hope that the entire scientific community, by sharing this measure, can contribute and help us in our work to raise awareness of the damage of smoking,”
According to World Population Review, 22.4% of the Italian population over 14 years of age smoked in 2022, with a higher prevalence among men than women, with 25.7% and 19.1% respectively. Nevertheless, The share of daily smokers in Italy has decreased over the past few years, down from 22.7% in 2020.
