In Milan, smoking will not soon be a habit: the Italian capital of fashion and economy has decided to ban outdoor smoking from tomorrow, January 1st, a first on the Italian peninsula.

According to the “air quality regulation”, adopted in 2020 by Milan, “from January 1, 2025, the smoking ban extends to all public places, including streets.”

A ban that doesn’t please Morgan Issac, a smoker, who told AFPTV: “The new law is excessive,” said the 46-year-old plumber.

“I agree not to smoke indoors or near an elderly person or a child, but banning smoking outside somehow restricts individual freedom, in my view it is too much,” he explained.

In contrast, Stellana Maria Rita Lombardo, a 56-year-old Milanese woman who works at a school, said she “totally agrees” with the new measure. She herself does not smoke and believes that “smoking creates a lot of pollution, at a time when we are suffering a lot from climate change”.

A single exception is provided: “isolated spaces where it is possible to maintain a distance of at least 10 meters from other people”, which in a city as densely populated as Milan is considered impossible, except perhaps at night. The measure does not concern electronic cigarettes.

In case of non-observance of the ban, the offender will be faced with a fine ranging between 40 and 240 euros.

In the capital of Lombardy, smoking was already banned from 2021 in public green spaces, unless a safety distance of 10 meters could be maintained, in playgrounds, bus stops and taxi ranks, as well as in all sports facilities.

The city of Milan, surrounded by a dense industrial fabric and often recording high levels of fine suspended particulate matter and nitrogen oxide pollution, is particularly sensitive in the battle against air pollution, especially in view of of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Italy has been fighting since 1975 with a limited ban especially on public transport. In 1995, the ban was extended to the public sector and in 2005 to all enclosed public spaces.

Almost one in five Italians smokes, according to data from Italy’s Statistics Institute (Istat) for 2023, and 93,000 deaths are attributed to smoking each year, according to the health ministry. By comparison, almost three in 10 French people smoke, compared to 8% in Sweden and 37% in Bulgaria.