Florence bans eating on sidewalks, doorsteps at meal times

ROME – The tourist magnet of Florence is cracking down on visitors who eat on sidewalks, doorsteps or driveways during lunch or dinner time.

Mayor Dario Nardella has said that a new ordinance, calling for fines up to 500 euros ($575), aims to combat “boorish tourists.”

The ordinance, which went into effect this week, applies to certain streets in the Renaissance city, including near the Uffizi Galleries, and only from noon to 3 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’s valid through Jan. 6, 2019, the end of the Italian holiday season.

Tourists often eat in the street to avoid paying to dine at cafes.

Last year, after a man swam naked in Rome’s Trevi Fountain, that city began fining people eating on monumental fountains or bathing in them.