Bibbers beware. Rome’s city hall has just passed an ordinance that limits alcohol sales in many downtown neighborhoods after 9 P.M. and completely turns off the tap after 2 A.M. The booze ban affects many of Rome’s trendiest nighttime haunts, including Campo de’ Fiori, Trastevere and Testaccio, where young people love to hang out.
Trouble is, they mostly love hanging out on the streets, taking advantage of the capital’s mild climate and attractive historic squares to party all night.
And that was a cocktail for disaster in the making, according to downtown residents who’ve been grumbling on about the nighttime commotion for years. Brawls and impromptu soccer games in some piazzas were common despite the deployment of the police. Then, after a young American tourist was stabbed during a fight outside a bar in Campo de’ Fiori earlier this month, city officials decided to get tough and on Saturday the new regulations went into effect.
What it means, in a practical sense, is that you won’t be able to buy alcohol after nine unless you’re inside a bar or a restaurant (or, naturally, seated at an outdoor table.) Supermarkets won’t be able to sell alcohol, but neither will a number of venues, like sandwich places or kebabs, that don’t have seating. No alcohol can be sold after 2 A.M.
“Of course it makes a difference, especially on the weekend,” said Michela Di Nardo, the owner of Pizzarius, a pizza slice shop just off Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere,
a lively nighttime circus of street performers and vendors. Pizza and beer is a staple Roman fare. “Now it will have to be just pizza.”
Marcello Forti, the owner of the San Cosimato bar, the grungy-chic hotspot in Trastevere popular with aspiring poets and wannabe flanneurs, said he was luckier than most because he had a large outdoor space where people could sit. But last weekend he had to put a “lookout” on staff to make sure that people with drinks didn’t go outside his property because bar owners can be fined up to 500 euros for violations.
Clients, on the other hand, don’t get fined anything. “And that makes it harder for us, because essentially they say ‘who cares’ when they’re told not to stray away,” he said.
On Monday, Rome newspapers reported that residents of less trendy downtown areas not affected by the ban were complaining that many partiers had found their way to their neighborhoods over the weekend because drinking on the streets was allowed.
It seemed to confirm what Miriam Mohamnad, who works at the Aristocampo bar in Campo de’ Fiori said: “In the end, young people will always find a way to drink.”
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