words by Carol King
Locals took to the streets of Trastevere in Rome to eat pizza, sandwiches and ice cream in a protest against a new law banning the consumption of snacks in the city鈥檚 historic centre.
On 1 October the city council introduced fines ranging from 鈧25 to 鈧500 for people who stop to eat or drink 鈥渋n zones which have a particular historic or architectural value鈥. The ordinance applies to tourist attractions including the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and the Colosseum. The council says that the measure is to 鈥済uarantee the protection of areas of merit in the historic centre鈥 in what the Italian newspaper 鈥楲a Repubblica鈥 has dubbed 鈥渁 war against the sandwich鈥. Tourists have been fined already.
The council and some residents hope the law will bring a sense of dignity back to an area that is seen as under assault by snacking tourists. They say people spill drinks, and leave behind crumbs and litter as they picnic on the stairs, steps and fountains of Rome鈥檚 historic monuments.
However, not all locals are in agreement with the measures and descended on the city鈥檚 cobbled streets to take part in the 鈥楳agna Magna鈥 flash mob organised on Facebook. Organisers called for people to go Piazza San Calisto eating a sandwich and drinking 鈥渁 healthy glass of wine鈥. Protesters say they do not want Trastevere to become a static open-air museum, want social life to continue in the areas鈥 squares, and people to feel free to enjoy an ice cream on the stairs of monuments in the Capitoline Hill. They say that tourists cannot be expected to respect monuments that regularly fall down in pieces.
Mayor of the city Gianni Alemanno hopes that the law will bring decorum back to the historic centre. Protesters criticise him, asking how the new generation of inhabitants can live in harmony in a metropolitan space that has ever fewer green spaces because of ongoing construction instead of existing buildings being reused.
Various local restaurants and sandwich shops helped supply protesters with sandwiches and pizza to eat in what the Italian media has described as the first sponsored gastro flash mob. Some protesters were fined and there was a whip round among flash-mob participants to pay their fines. Bags were passed around to collect possible litter in what was a peaceful event. Whether the protesters鈥 actions have any effect in what is the first round of the sandwich war remains to be seen. Similar bans have been adopted in Venice, Florence and Bologna.
