smoking in rome

If you like smoking, Rome’s the place to do it. Or put another way, if you don't smoke, you will certainly be among the minority in Italy. Bring a gasmask.

Marcello Mastroianni,
'hero' of La Dolce Vita and
darling of Italian cinema
in general, ultra cool cat,
superb actor and overall
nice guy, captured here
in an off-camera moment
on the set of LDV.

While there are many bars and restaurants who operate a smoking ban, this is largely on account of their proprietors not wishing to lose the custom of increasing numbers of non-smoking Western tourists. However, these are the exception rather than the rule, so it’s possible in most places to enjoy a smoke with your coffee, thus heightening one’s enjoyment of the perfect Roman moment.

Say what you will, but the relaxed attitude of Italians towards smoking - the freedom to smoke in Rome - creates a wonderful nostalgic atmosphere of a city that has not bowed down to the soulless politically correct health-nuts that have taken so much of people's fun out of streetlife in most other world cities. Rome is not the home of the air-conditioned mall - It's a bustling colourful, sensual open-air city with no limits, with much of its heart still planted firmly in the days of simpler pleasures of the 1930's, 40's, 50s and 60's, when every pick-up line, short con or sales pitch began with the offer of a cigarette, not a cucumber juice.

It's a question of style and keeping up standards of dress - And it's a jazz thing...
Health? Atmosphere? Clean air? Civilised behaviour? When Italians go into a cafe, they'd sooner see a crowd of smartly-dressed men and women in suits and well-cut dresses smoking cigarettes and sipping coffees and shots than a bunch of sweat-dripping and smelling 'athletes' in scruffy running shoes, T-shirts, shorts or cut-offs, swilling fruit juice or water from those ugly plastic bottles as if they'd just crossed the desert and hadn't seen water for nine days. If you want to dress like that, go to the running track, but don't hang around the bars of Rome with that attitude, because you will stick out like a sore thumb with the word 'TOURIST' etched on your forehead. Rome's a smart town, so get with the program.

A few years ago it was difficult for visiting smokers to find Western brands of cigarettes in Italy, but this is no longer the case and popular Western brands like Marlboro, Dunhill or Players are freely available in most ‘Tabacchi’.

A 'tabacchi', as it’s name suggests, is a sort of tobacconist which sells cigarettes (obviously), other smoking materials (such as nice cigarette cases and lighters and those rolling machines for ciggy-papers), sweets, chewing gum, postage stamps, numerous brands of little mints and breath-fresheners, small items of stationary like pens and sometimes filofaxes, plus men’s toiletries and grooming aids. It’s a sort of newsagents without the newspapers, or a chemist which sells cigarettes instead of medicine. (as for newspapers, they’re mostly sold from news-stands in the street, but you can’t browse endlessly through the magazines a la WH Smith as most of the mags are behind the counter.

If you want to merge into the local smoking culture, then smoke the popular Italian brands such as Diana (mild), or MS (strong).
Respect the smoking conventions though - Even in a bar or restaurant where smoking is allowed, if it’s lunchtime, or large numbers of people nearby are eating, keep your distance from them and the food counter, or wait until you're outside again.

Be very careful how you dispose of the cigarette butt - In hot weather these may start a fire amidst waste litter on the street, or if thrown from a car in a rural area, hot, dry grass and shrub foliage can ignite, causing forest fires. Thus, there are heavy spot fines issued by police and carabinere for being seen throwing the cigarette butts carelessly.

However, a delightful feature of Rome’s smoking culture is the inclusion of ashtrays in the side-panels of almost all rubbish bins in the city, so there is really no excuse to just toss the butts away.

Finally, though many do, it’s still a bit non-U to smoke in the street, although this can be excused at stationary moments during the passeggiata.

In spite of the unhealthiness of smoking and the occasional discomfort it can cause to passive imbibers with smoke allergies, its prevalence in Rome and Italy in general adds a cool, carefree and stylish quality which has long gone from many other world cities today.

W