Those who flout the new ban could be handed fines between €40 and €240 – a punishment that does not sit well with all residents.
"I think this measure is excessive. As long as we are talking about an indoor place, I agree because [smoking] can be bothersome and it is not healthy," sales clerk Myrian Illiano, 21, told AFP.
"But if we are talking about an open place, I don't see why one should be restricted."
Content creator Chiara Ciuffini, 39, was all in favour of the new move.
"I agree, because I am a sporty, non-smoking person. I hope smokers can also understand the need of non-smokers who want to breathe cleaner air," she said.
Passed in 2020 by the city council, Milan's air quality ordinance called for progressively stricter bans on smoking.
Starting in 2021, it was forbidden to smoke in parks and playgrounds, as well as bus stops and sports facilities.
The latest smoking ban, effective from January 1st, applies to "all public spaces, including streets", with the exception of "isolated places where it is possible to maintain a distance of at least 10 metres from other people," according to the decree's text.
The ban does not apply to e-cigarettes.
Local officials said in a statement that the measure is aimed at reducing particulates to "improve the quality of the city's air, to protect the health of citizens, including protection from passive smoking in public places".
Stellina Lombardo, 56, a non-smoker, said she supported the harsher smoking ban.
"I very much agree because smoking is responsible for a lot of pollution; in this era where we suffer a lot from climate change such measure can help to scale down the effects of pollution that is devastating the planet," she said.
Located in the middle of the industrial Po Valley and choked with road traffic, Milan is one of Europe's most polluted cities.
In 1975 Italy's first national smoking ban prohibited smoking on public transportation and in classrooms.
The ban was extended to public administration areas in 1995 and then to all enclosed public areas in 2005.
Some 19 percent of Italians smoke, according to 2023 data from the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) – lower than the 24-percent EU average.
Costing around €6 a pack on average, cigarettes in Italy are among the cheapest in Europe, where prices of around €10 are more common.
Italy's health ministry says that smoking is responsible for 93,000 deaths per year.
Within the European Union, 17 countries have passed smoke-free legislation, with the strictest bans enforced in Ireland, Greece, Bulgaria, Malta, Spain and Hungary.
In Britain, a world-leading proposal to phase out smoking among young people passed its first parliamentary hurdle in November, with an overwhelming majority of lawmakers voting in favour.
The bill would prevent anyone born after January 1st, 2009 from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco products can be bought.
The government has said the proposed measure is aimed at creating Britain's first "smoke-free generation".
In Europe, the fewest smokers are found in Sweden, where 8 percent of the population lights up. Worst off is Bulgaria, with smokers making up 37 percent of the total population.
Comments (1)