Nuove leggi a Firenze
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A few new leggi (laws) were approved by the giunta (committee) last week that affect a lot of people, including myself. It seems that the new leggi were also approved by the consiglio comunale (town council) and have supposedly taken effect.
I'm happy about the new leggi like the one prohibiting people from throwing mozziconi di sigaretta, cartacce, lattine o involucri (cigarette butts, paper, cans or wrappers) on the ground, which could result in a multa (fine) of up to 160 Euros.
I'm pleased that some of these leggi will result in a cleaner city. People must now bring the appropriate equipment to clean up after their dogs, people can't lie down in front of buildings hampering other pedestrians from entering, and people can no longer wash their ascelle (armpits) in fontane pubbliche (public fountains).
A few others are quite progressive, like making bathrooms open to everyone even if they're not clients. Because I live here I don't know if I'd try this one out as I'm happy to buy a bicchiere di acqua (glass of water) to pay for the right to use a clean bathroom. I do understand that it can be tricky finding clean restrooms when visiting Florence, so I'm sure this is a great new legge.
Most of the new leggi don't affect me except the one that states that it's now illegal to lock a bicicletta (bike) to the barriere di protezione dei monumenti (guardrail around the monuments). I will now have to move my bicicletta that I lock to the chain around the monumento in my piazza. They installed a bike rack below my apartment building, but I can't fit mine in so I'm still looking for a good place to park it.
I'm hoping these new leggi will be enforced and improve the city I love. I feel that all change is good. Anything that will make people respect my beloved city a bit more and keep it clean is good in my eyes.
