Florence, City Council bans eating sandwiches on the street. In the days when the Street Food Festival opens...

A new anti-degradation ordinance started on September 4 (and will last until January 6), in Florence, which this time launches a strenuous fight against ... sandwiches, of tourists and non-tourists. In fact, the new measures, presented with lively satisfaction by Mayor Dario Nardella, hit street eaters: for the entire period of validity of the ordinance, it will be forbidden to consume food lingering on the sidewalks, on the thresholds of stores and homes, as well as on the roadways, in four precise points of the city center, namely Via de’ Neri, Piazzale degli Uffizi, Via della Ninna and Piazza del Grano. Jaws that are caught abusively devouring pizzas, focaccias and assorted sausages will be punished with an administrative fine of 150 to 500 euros. Shopkeepers selling food in the red sandwich zone have been distributed posters warning tourists and citizens about the new regulations. The ban is in effect “at mealtimes,” as they say: from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Outside these hours, lampredotti, covaccini and schiacciatine can freely populate the “off limits” zones again (in short: yes to snacks and breakfasts, no to lunches and dinners).

The measure, reads the text of the act, comes about because customers of activities that administer food “have begun to stop outside of them and consume the food, invading, in particular, the sidewalks as well as the thresholds of stores and homes giving rise to a situation detrimental to the decorum and livability of the area, also in light of the value of particular value of the same which is located within the UNESCO area.” The picturesque initiative, as mentioned, is advocated by Mayor Nardella, who is no stranger to singular anti-degradation battles: we remember when he announced the brilliant idea of watering church parvises (on the threshold of the scorching Florentine summer) to prevent tourists from sitting down, or when he armed himself with sponges and mops to set an example by cleaning Ponte Vecchio of graffiti.

However, the ordinance finds an ironic counterbalance in the “Florence Street Food Experience” to be held, as part of the Florence Jazz Fringe Festival, from Sept. 6 to 9 (just two days after the ordinance went into effect) in Piazza del Carmine, on the opposite bank of the Arno: then, perhaps, nibbling on a hamburger in front of the basilica that houses the Brancacci Chapel is deemed more decorous than doing so in the quadrangle where war has been declared on crumbs, papers greasy with bbq sauce and medium beers in large plastic cups. In short, Florentines and outsiders are warned: the sandwich is eaten sitting (and possibly composed) at the bar.

Florence, City Council bans eating sandwiches on the street. In the days when the Street Food Festival opens...

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