MILAN – This city has long been considered a worldwide fashion capital and smoking has often been seen as fashionable as well, not just in Milan but across the country. However fashionable or not, as of midnight on Jan. 1, 2025, smoking was outlawed in “all public spaces, including the streets” of Milan which is also Italy’s financial capital. This law decrees that anyone who lights up outside faces fines between $41 and $249.
The move marks the toughest smoking ban in Italy, where nearly a quarter of the population smokes, according to the country’s health ministry. The only exception is when people are in isolated places at least 35 feet from other people.
The ban, which does not include vapes or electronic cigarettes, is part of a clampdown focused more on pollution than health, according to the city council, which passed a clean air bill in 2020 that included strict bans on smoking, responsible for 7 percent of all emissions in Milan and its suburbs. While the ban started at midnight Jan. 1, officials did not arrest any revelers, Milan police said.
Lino Stoppani, president of public business federation Fipe Confcommercio called the ban “symbolic” and hard to enforce since business owners are not compelled to do so. “Without adequate controls, the ordinance risk remaining measures are aimed more at raising awareness than at solving. The positive aspect is that public businesses are not imposed with the role of ‘carabinieri,’ leaving the burden of checks to the competent authorities,” Stoppani said in a statement, referring to local police.
“This is a provision with several critical issues. For us it is a provision that will not have the desired effects, it has some regulatory weaknesses, it probably also creates a bit of confusion in its application, but we are not making a battle out of it.” The ban will impact attendees of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026.
Smoking has been prohibited in all public indoor spaces in Italy since 2005, and several cities have added additional regulations, though implementation is rare.
In Turin, it is forbidden to smoke in front of children or pregnant women while outside. In Rome, many restaurants allow smoking at outdoor tables and all major Italian airports have smoking rooms inside the terminals.