ROME - ITALY is in danger of losing its
reputation as a land of romance and passion, as everything from
building sandcastles to sitting on public monuments has been
banned.
Since Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi granted local city and
town councils the extra powers to enforce 'public security', more
than 150 new by-laws have been instituted reported the UK's Daily
Telegraph on Saturday.
In Vigevano, a town near Milan, a young couple were slapped with
a fine of 160 euros (S$280) for simply sitting on the steps of a
local monument, the Daily Telegraph reported.
'It was really hot, so we just sat down for a moment,' said
Giada Carnevale, 24. 'The only other alternative in the piazza is
to go to a bar but there they charge you five euros just for a
drink. We were just chatting - we weren't eating or drinking or
smoking.'
Other new bans include kissing in a moving car in the town of
Eboli, with a fine of 500 euro if caught; the building of
sandcastles at Eraclea because they 'obstruct the passage' of
people on the strand; smoking on the beaches of Oristano with a
fine of 360 euros and wearing wooden clogs on the island of
Capri.
The Italian media has decried the rash of new prohibitions,
saying that they are a 'return to the bureaucratic straightjacket
of the Mussolini era,' reported the Daily Telegraph. 'Kisses, clogs
and beach balls - Italy, the country where everything is
forbidden,' was a recent headline in La Stampa.