Milan’s political leadership has been accused of waging a war on ice cream in a bid to crack down on the northern Italian city’s “wild nightlife”.
Marco Granelli, deputy mayor of public safety, recently announced a proposal to ban the sale of snacks after midnight in the city’s popular nightlife districts.
Bars and restaurants will also have to close outdoor areas from 12.30am. on weekdays and from 1.30 a.m. on weekends, in the hope that the streets will empty of people, thus bringing peace and tranquility to the residents. The crackdown, if approved, will take effect from next month until early November.
It is noted that although pizza is also among the wide range of foods for sale targeted by the ban, gathering for a late-night ice cream is so integral to Italian culture that if it is disrupted, there will be a backlash.
“What does the average Italian family do in the summer? He goes for a walk after dinner and gets an ice cream,” Marco Barbieri, general secretary of the Milan unit of Confcommercio, the Italian retailers’ association, told the Observer. “It’s a classic tradition, so it’s clear that if you interfere with these kinds of cultural habits, people are not going to be happy.”
The response of the mayor of the city, Giuseppe Sala, was this: “I would ask Barbieri to come to my office for a few hours, because I have hundreds of reports from residents asking to be able to sleep better at night. I cannot avoid dealing with this subject, it is not a whim but a need of many. We are not changing the rules of the universe but we are imposing very small limits.”
The ban is expected to apply in 12 areas, including the central districts of Brera and Ticinese, as well as the Darsena, Arco della Pace and Lazzaretto areas, along with the busy Corso Como and Corso Garibaldi avenues.
However, a similar wave of discontent was sparked again when Milan officials tried to ban gelato after midnight in 2013. After weeks of intense debate and protests organized by the Occupy Gelato movement, the mayor at the time, Giuliano Pisapia, was forced to back down. and to admit that the council had made a mistake.
With information from the Guardian
