More than 165 city centres throughout Italy are expected to respect the EU call for a car-free day tomorrow. For many Italians, however, the ban on private cars will be no new experience.
Car-free Sundays once a month were introduced last winter by then-environment minister Mr Edo Ronchi, and proved very successful, with the centres of major cities such as Rome, Milan, Florence, Turin and Bologna being reclaimed by thousands of pedestrians, skaters, cyclists and even horsemen. In an attempt to encourage a "family day" atmosphere, public transport services were boosted while access to museums was free on those Sundays.
Italy has the highest per capita automobile ownership in Europe, leading to unacceptably high levels of pollution in Italian cities. While France, Switzerland and Austria all record a national average of 24 micrograms of the lethal PM(to the power of 10) particles per cubic metre, cities like Rome, Bologna, Naples and Turin all hit levels over 50 micrograms. Data released this week by the World Health Organisation and the Italian environmentalist pressure group, Legambiente, show that five times more Italians die from pollution-induced illness than from car accidents.
Throughout the 1990s, concern about high levels of pollution led to ad-hoc, isolated measures from the mayors of Rome and Milan (and other cities), with partial city centre shut-downs occasionally implemented during the working week.
Opinion polls conducted throughout last winter consistently revealed that more than 80 per cent of Italians favour permanent regulations allowing only public transport and bicycles (not mopeds) in city centres. The Italian National Research Council, however, points out that one-off bans are relatively ineffective, claiming one ban per month reduces pollution by 2 per cent, while one per week reduces it by 7 per cent.
Tomorrow's initiative will be followed by another series of car-free Sundays, between November 5th and December 3rd.