(AFP / Piero CRUCIATTI)
In Milan, smoking will soon no longer be trendy: the Italian capital of fashion and finance has decided to ban smoking outside from January 1, a first on the peninsula.
According to the “Air Quality Ordinance” adopted in 2020 by Milan, “from January 1, 2025, the smoking ban is extended to all public spaces, including streets.”
A ban that does not please Myriam Illiano, a 21-year-old saleswoman who finds this legislation “exaggerated”. “Inside I agree, because smoking can be annoying and it’s not good for your health, but outside I don’t see why,” she told AFP.
On the other hand, Chiara Ciuffini, a 39-year-old content creator, is for: “I'm sporty and I don't smoke, I hope smokers can understand the desire of non-smokers to breathe cleaner air.”
Only one exception is tolerated by the new regulations: “isolated places where it is possible to respect a distance of at least ten meters from other people”, which in a dense and populated city like Milan is a feat, except maybe in the middle of the night. Electronic cigarettes are not affected by this measure.
The vice-president of the Italian Federation of Tobacconists, Emanuele Marinoni, himself the owner of a tobacconist in Milan, also expects “a drop in sales of 20 to 30%”.
“Currently people, when they are at the office, go outside to smoke. It is therefore obvious that there will necessarily be a drop in consumption” of cigarettes with this new ban, he told AFP.
Violators face a fine ranging from 40 to 240 euros.
In the Lombard capital, smoking had already been banned since 2021 in public green spaces, except when it was possible to respect a safety distance of ten meters, in children's play areas, at bus stops and train stations. taxi, as well as in all sports facilities.
– One in five Italians smokes –
Regularly affected by levels of fine particle and nitrogen oxide pollution above standards, the city of Milan, surrounded by a dense industrial fabric, is particularly aware of the fight against air pollution, and all the more so in view of the 2026 Winter Olympics, which it is hosting in partnership with the Cortina resort.
Cigarette smoke, “like any combustion phenomenon, contributes to the creation of particles”, the deputy mayor of Milan, Anna Scavuzzo, explained to AFP on Wednesday.
Italy launched the fight against tobacco in 1975 with a ban limited in particular to public transport. In 1995, it was extended to public administrations and in 2005 to all closed public places.
Almost one in five Italians smoke, according to figures from the National Statistics Institute (Istat) dating from 2023, and 93,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking, according to the Ministry of Health. For comparison, nearly three out of ten French people smoke, compared to 8% in Sweden and 37% in Bulgaria, respectively the best student and the dunce cap of the European Union, where the average percentage of smokers amounts to 24%.
Furthermore, in Italy the average price of a pack of cigarettes is six euros, compared to double in France for example.
Milan's approach is part of a general movement tending to eradicate tobacco, like Mexico City, which in 2022 banned smoking in certain districts of the historic center.
Among the most ambitious countries, the United Kingdom wants to gradually become tobacco-free. According to a bill currently being adopted, people born after 2009 will never be able to legally buy cigarettes.
In addition to this generational ban, London wants to ban smoking in outdoor spaces such as children's play areas as well as around schools and hospitals.
Other countries, before the United Kingdom, have attempted to implement a generational smoking ban. New Zealand had thus banned the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008 in 2022. But when they came to power at the end of 2023, the conservatives abandoned the measure.
