Venice issues three-year ban on new takeaways and restrictions for existing ones

In an attempt to remove the “blots on the Venice copybook” noted by UNESCO, which had threatened to include Venice in its “black list” of World Heritage Sites at risk, and to bring order to a city that risks losing its identity due to the ever-increasing number of tourists, Venice has decided to clamp down on takeaway food by not issuing any licences for new shops and making the rules stricter for those already open.

Corriere.it reports that Mayor Luigi Brugnaro’s plans to clean up the streets began a year ago, when the city council expressed commitments that have now been translated into the measure approved on Tuesday by the Venetian council in agreement with the regional authorities, which will now have to ratify it.

The mayor said “our plan is to prevent the opening of new takeaway businesses and impose new rules on those already operating, so that they are obliged to clean up and collect discarded food containers outside their stores, as well as place rubbish bins outside.” The city council’s plan goes even further, modifying regulations in various sectors: hygiene (bringing them in line with those of the mainland); those regarding the opening of shops, artisans’ workshops and public services, in order to safeguard particular areas of Venice; building regulations; and the city police.

The report adds that with the new plans “it may also become obligatory for takeaway food shops to install toilet facilities and observe rules on minimum ceiling height and floor area, and to keep the area in front of the shop clean by providing rubbish bins. Details of these measures will be decided by the council over the coming year.

The ban on new takeaways applies to the old town, including the islands of Murano and Burano, while the Lido, Pellestrina and San Pietro in Volta, which attract fewer tourists, are exempt. The ban regards the sale and production of food for consumption on the streets, but does not affect ice-cream parlours, which are considered artisanal businesses. This will mean no new shops selling pizza slices, takeaway cartons of pasta or kebabs, also because there are already around sixty takeaway restaurants, not to mention the hundreds of bars scattered over the city that sell sandwiches and snacks.”