Venice, forbidden to sit on steps and eat on the street: city council crackdown in the name of decorum

The Venice City Council approved yesterday, with 22 votes in favor and 6 against, the new Police and Urban Security Regulations, consisting of 82 articles divided in turn into five sections: general provisions, occupations of public land, cleanliness and decorum in built-up areas, protection of urban safety and usability, and urban security. The new regulations replace the previous document dating back to 1986 and contain a crackdown on behavior deemed disrespectful to the city, in the name of “decorum,” which will have to be respected not only in the historic center but also in stations, airports, public transportation, piers, parking lots, sports facilities, archaeological sites, the center of Mestre and in general in all areas of the municipal territory included in the Unesco site “Venice and its Lagoon.”

In particular, it is first and foremost forbidden to litter public places (penalties range from 25 to 500 euros), an obligation that applies not only to tourists and citizens, but also to concessionaires of public areas, with additional obligations for those who sell or serve food and beverages (who will have the obligation to separate waste collection for a radius of 100 linear meters from the entrance or entrances of their business, and the obligation to make use of disposable and biodegradable and compostable containers, dishes and bags). Regarding the behavior of individuals, it is prohibited to circulate in public places or places open to the public in bathing attire (swimsuit of any shape) or shirtless. Same prescription also on water buses, buses and streetcars. Also: Prohibition of consuming food and beverages while sitting on the ground in public places or open to public passage in built-up areas, selling or serving for take-away alcohol or beverages in uncapped glass bottles or glass glasses, sitting or lying on the ground on the steps of monumental bridges and arcades, on wellingtubes (which are not to be used as a supporting surface), in front of store windows, on foundation walls as well as on high-water walkways, bathing , diving and/or swimming in all rios, canals and basins within urban centers, in St. Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca Canal, lying on benches, climbing on them with one’s feet and in any case bivouacking, including at local public transport stops."

A ban on consuming alcohol in the street from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. is also sanctioned, as well as a stop to overly cheerful celebrations of bachelor or bachelorette parties or graduations: the regulation states that it is not possible to “participate in raids by two or more people between public establishment and public establishment aimed at the non-responsible celebration of public or private events or occasions such as bachelor/bachelorette parties, graduations.” Also, a ban on bicycles in the historic center (except with hand-driven bikes to get to one’s home), a ban on scooters (unless one is under 11 years of age, and in any case a ban on all in St. Mark’s Square and around the Rialto Bridge), and a ban on loud noise from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. and from noon to 3 p.m. The regulation also contains measures against illegal trade and street prostitution.

Violators will not only be able to pay the fine, but also receive an urban daspo, that is, being removed from the city by written and reasoned order “of a coordination and control officer superordinate, even temporarily, to the ascertaining officer or of the same coordination and control officer if he has personally ascertained the violation.”

Venice, forbidden to sit on steps and eat on the street: city council crackdown in the name of decorum

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