Posted on 01/09/2005 2:44:16 PM PST by wagglebee
ROME - Smokers in Italy took their last puffs in smoky bars and trattorias Sunday, hours before the start of one of Europe's toughest laws against smoking in public places.
The outdoors, private homes, and restaurants and bars with ventilated smoking rooms are the only places spared from the anti-smoking law. Enforcement begins at 12:01 a.m. Monday, when many bars and clubs still will be serving customers. In a restaurant near Viterbo, north of Rome, a dozen cigar aficionados reserved a table for a kind of farewell dinner, promising to puff away on Tuscan and Cuban cigars between courses before the clock struck midnight, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
"In the end we'll get used to not smoking in restaurants or bars, just like we've already had to do, for example, in trains and planes," said Francesca Cola, 38, smoking a cigarette as she sat outside a cafe on Rome's central Piazza Venezia.
Her annoyance, however, was plain.
"I think this is excessive zeal against smokers. It's a witch hunt," she said, adding a pledge to throw more dinner parties and eat out less frequently.
The law, which was championed by Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia, a physician, bans smoking on public transportation and in hospitals, cinemas and schools.
Smokers will face fines from $36 to $363 if caught lighting up where they should not - including offices. Owners of premises who turn an eye to smoking face fines as high as $2,904.
In a country where restaurant diners rarely ask if drifting smoke is bothersome to others and doctors and visitors puff away in hospital corridors, about 26 percent of people smoke, according to the Health Ministry figures.
About 10 percent of Italian restaurants have separate smoking areas, according to restaurant lobbyists.
Bars and restaurants have lobbied for more time to prepare no-smoking zones, but they were refused. The law, approved in 2003, was to have taken effect in December, but an extension was granted through the holiday period.
"I'm a smoker, but I think it's a good thing both for people's health and the hygiene of the place," Gianni Cristofani, 27, a barman at Trinity College Pub in Rome's center.
Some newspapers greeted the ban with humor. An editorial cartoon on Sunday's front page of the Turin daily La Stampa showed a prisoner about to be executed asking, "Can I smoke a last cigarette?" A soldier replies: "No. It could be bad for your health."
It's actually just a result of voting for leftists.
Poor Italians. Welcome to the club.
No smoking in bars and restaurants in CA for a loooong time. It's not so bad, but it does make me long for the days when a cigarette after a meal or a cigarette sitting in the bar with your beer was OK. That's why it's so much fun to go to a state where you can smoke.
My favorite pub has a bar where you can smoke on the patio, though.
I'm pretty sure the "conservatives" are in charge in Italy.
But laws such as this are generally initiated by the left and conservatives tend to go along with what they view as a social issue with popular support.
I'm a non-smoker, aside from a (very) occasional fine cigar.
What bothers me about these laws is the lack of respect governments show for private property.
That's what I was thinking, that conservatives were in charge.
I'm a smoker, and I realize it's a health issue, but in the future the only place we'll be able to smoke is out on the ledge of the building, 10 stories up.
Yes, that's true...to some extent, it doesn't much matter who you vote for, the social engineering stuff proceeds on schedule.
Nothing short of bloodshed stops that stuff, I'm afraid.
For now, for now. Give the safety Nazis a little time and they will get to that as well.
One of the reasons we moved to NC last year.
It is not pleasant taking a train in southern Europe or France and getting sore throats, or with the later result that all of one's clothes smell like cheap pungent cigarette smoke, even if one tries to stick to the non-smoking cars. I understand it is much worse for those with asthma and/or allergies. I write this as one who supports private property rights, does not suffer from asthma or allergies myself, and also as one who had a Stateside college girlfriend who smoked (American cigarettes did not bother me at the time, though I would probably object to the smelly clothes now).
"For now, for now. Give the safety Nazis a little time and they will get to that as well"
Believe me, the Nazi's have tried, but the owner has good lawyers and it should stay for awhile.
What really bugs me, speaking of Nazi's, is the way nonsmokers will come out to the patio and complain because people are smoking! Grrrrrrr!
I saw a "Trends For 2005" thing on GMA that siad the "in" thing for 2005 was going to be "Staying At Home." Connection?" I say "Aye."
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A smoking ban will take effect on Monday in Italy, which bar and restaurant owners say they will refuse to police.
A smoking ban will take effect on Monday in Italy, which bar and restaurant owners say they will refuse to police.
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Civil disobedience, I love it! LOL I hope they have deep pockets, though. From what I read, those fines can really stack up quickly.
Italy?
I'll believe it when I see it.
Like to see them take a cigar away from some of the Sicilian wise guys.
We have a friend who is a smoker in Italy. They smoke anywhere they please. Even under No Smoking Signs. They smoke. LOL!
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