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In an attempt to curb the “wild nightlife” and thus give residents more sleep, the city council of Milan is taking action against ice cream sellers, among other things. “Do they realize what they are doing?”
Marco Granelli, the deputy mayor in charge of public security in the northern Italian city, recently introduced a proposal that would ban the sale of takeaway food after midnight in Milan’s popular nightlife districts. Bars and restaurants would also have to close their outdoor areas from 12:30 am on weekdays and 1:30 am on weekends, in the hope that this will “clear” the streets of people disrupting the peace of local residents. If the proposal is approved, the measure will be in force from next month until early November.
Not only pizzas are subject to the ban, but also ice creams. And that is precisely why the proposal is currently receiving a lot of criticism: meeting late at night to eat an ice cream is an intrinsic part of Italian culture. “What does an average Italian family do in the summer? They go for a walk after their meal and get an ice cream,” said Marco Barbieri of the Italian retailers’ association Confcommercio. “It’s a tradition and it’s clear that if you interfere with these kinds of cultural practices, people are not going to be happy.”
Barbieri sympathizes with the residents of the entertainment areas, but according to him, such a ban will not solve the problem. “Do you think a 25-year-old will go home at the stroke of midnight because he can’t get a takeaway afterwards? And what about the tourists who want to eat ice cream after midnight? Do the city council realize what they are doing?”
Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala already responded to Barbieri’s criticism. “I would like to invite him to come to my office for a few hours, because I have hundreds of complaints from residents asking to sleep better at night. We have to do something about that and with this ban we are not changing the rules of the universe, are we? We’re just imposing some very minor restrictions.”