Italy targets cars, pizza ovens in battle against air pollution
People in Rome, Milan and Turin are being encouraged to use public transport, while authorities in small towns have banned bonfires.
After Beijing and New Delhi, cities in Italy are now implementing measures to fight air pollution after experiencing an abnormally warm winter. After air pollution alert levels were breached for the 31st day in a row in Milan, the city banned cars from plying on roads for six hours a day from Monday to Wednesday and may also ban fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Authorities in Milan, as well as Rome and Turin, are encouraging people to use public transport by making a single ticket valid for an entire day.
Rome is enforcing a policy similar to Delhi’s odd-even scheme on cars, but environmentalists believe the measure will be ineffective as it will still allow 1.3 million cars on roads. In an unusual measure, the mayor of the town of San Vitaliano near Naples has imposed a three-month ban on the use of wood-fired pizza ovens, while authorities have prohibited bonfires made of wood and shrubs in Lucca in Tuscany, Terni in central Italy, and Rovigo in the north.