Florence bans evening strolls, takeaway food to tackle loitering tourists

'Passeggiata': Italian for a leisurely stroll with the purpose of socialising. Photo / File

The pleasure of an aimless evening stroll through Italian renaissance piazzas is now a thing of the past.

As Northern Italy emerges from the Coronavirus Pandemic there are many freedoms and familiar activities that have been banned.

Florence, the cultural heart of Tuscany, has taken the precaution of banning evening walks to avoid crowding.

Areas in the historic city centre, once the stomping ground of Leonardo Da Vinci and Machiavelli, will be off limits between the hours of 9pm to 6am.

Other town squares have also begun enforcing rules against loitering tourists, including the Piazza Strozzi, Santa Croce and Piazza SS Annunziata. Churches and heritage sites have banned visitors from sitting on their steps in order to reduce crowding.

The "passeggiata" - a leisurely evening stroll with the purpose of socialising - was once a traditional rite of citizens.

Now a pleasant evening stroll could cost you anything between €400 and €1,000 ($570-$1420) in fines.

Florence to ban takeaway food: A tax on street vendors and packed lunches has been mooted. Photo / Heidi Kaden, Unsplash

However, the tourist town has not gone as far as to ban visitors outright.

There is one important exception to the curfew: visitors must prove they are in town to eat or drink at a restaurant.

The Uffizi Galleries - the home to Italy's most famous Renaissance art - has suggested the introduction of a "Sandwich Tax". Museum director Eike Schmidt told CNN, "bans [on eating] and fines [for littering] have proved mostly inadequate at tackling the phenomenon." Instead he suggested tackling vendors to pay a contribution to cleaning their renaissance-era stonework.

"Having stallholders take responsibility through a small contribution could be a concrete way of tackling it."

Florence bans takeaway food: Michaelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence. Photo / File

Some Florentine business owners and borghese see it as a Machiavellian ploy to clean up the streets and oust street vendors, in favour of restaurants.

"Bar and restaurant receipts have become the new pass needed to get around the centre," wrote the restaurant critic Dissappore.

"Do we really want eating and drinking to become the only key to accessing the cities of art, to the world, to life?"

Tourism has long been the lifeblood of the Renaissance city. However the days of being able to wander carefree, perhaps with a slice of pizza and gelato for the journey, are over.