It feels as if the golden days of Milano da bere—“Milan to drink,” a slogan inspired by a Ramazzotti-aperitif ad—are making a comeback. High-net-worth foreigners are moving in, rents are rising, and private members’ clubs are opening their doors, rekindling the spirit of the city’s hedonistic heyday in the 1980s, when Elio Fiorucci rubbed shoulders with Giorgio Armani. But as Milan embraces its new wave of glamour, a piece of its carefree past is being stamped out.
On January 1, a law prohibiting smoking in public spaces—streets, parks, and outdoor areas—came into effect. Nostalgic visions of Milan Fashion Week, Campari spritzes in hand and cigarette smoke curling in the air, have been thwarted. Here’s what a few outraged residents who smoke have to say about the ban.
“You tell me: What’s the point of drinking a Negroni without a cigarette? It’s like having pasta without parmigiano.”
“They’re just beceri, uncultured people who understand nothing.”
“This is Milan. People are thin here. People smoke here.”
“You know Giorgio Armani only opened the Nobu in his hotel on one condition: you could smoke inside.”
“They say it’s for air pollution. But there’s the factories, and the cows. What have cigarettes done? They are only very, very small objects.”
“Can’t they take a look around? Milan is located in the most industrial area of Europe!”
“They are turning us into Americans. Loro vuò fa l’Americano … Americano … Americano … ”
“Instead of thinking about this American Democrat bullshit, we need to be realistic and focus on doing much more important things.”
“I can carry a machete around town and remain calm, I can loot the city live on TV and stay calm, but the important thing is that I don’t light a cigarette, because then, that’s when it’s a problem.”
“They are killing the aperitivo.”
“What will I do at my restaurant? I’m not the police. I’m keeping the ashtrays.”
“You think a policeman is actually going to walk up to me and fine me?”
“I hope a policeman tries to stop me because I’m really down to have a very big fight.”
“There are no taxis. There are no Ubers. The mayor fixes the cigarettes.”
“No one cares anyway. We are not Japanese.”
“International people are coming to Milan, so they are trying to make us look like them. It’s all for the newspapers.”
“Control, control, control. They will put microchips in us next.”
“I’m moving to Rome.”
“We are Northern, but we are Italians. You can’t take cigarettes away from Italians.”
Elena Clavarino is a Senior Editor at Air Mail
