Published on : Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Tourists who would break the law, which comes into effect today, will have to face fines ranging €150-€500 (£135-£450).
The ban includes streets as well as piazzas around a particularly popular delicatessen in the city centre – All’ Antico Vinaio, the Old Wine Merchant – which is located between the Uffizi Galleries and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s medieval town hall.
Defined by one food and travel magazine as “home of the world’s best sandwiches”, it has relished an inflow in terms of popularity after being favorably evaluated on TripAdvisor, where it is related “excellent” by 79 per cent of contributors.
Like other Italian cities, Florence undergoes a condition of dearth in terms of public benches. Hence, tourists frequently resort to squatting on the kerb or crouching in the doorways of shops and restaurants while having a bite.
For long, local businesses have complained regarding the nuisance and the issue came to a head in August followed by a fight between the owner of a leather goods shop and a Spanish family camped out on his front step.