A sandwich on the large courtyard of the Uffizi Gallery. A piece of pizza overlooking the Palazzo Vecchio – eating on the street can be expensive for tourists in Florence in some places.
Penalties between €150 and €500 are at stake if one stops and eats on certain streets and squares in the historic center of the Tuscan city. A new Florence tourism regulation has been in force since September 4 and is expected to apply until January 6.
Like Venice or Rome, Florence is a tourism magnet in Italy. Quality tourism is an important resource, said Mayor Dario Nardella. Sometimes, however, the city is confronted with tourists who lack decorum. “When tourists behave like at home, they are and always will be welcome,” he said.
The ban applies on the streets of Via dei Neri and Via della Ninna, as well as on the squares of Piazzale degli Uffizi and the Piazza del Grano. It affects not only groups, but also individuals who sit down and eat on the sidewalk, for example. There are similar bans in Rome. In the capital, it is forbidden to picnic or bath in local wells.