The road to non-naughty nonsense
Will Italy ever recover from the miniskirt ban? Small skirts prompt smallerthinking
- © Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-3.0 & GFDL
- Castellammare Di Stabia, Italy
Castellammare di Stabi, an Italian beach town, is saying, "adieu" to the Dolce Vita and putting a halt on women wearing miniskirts in a move by moderate conservative mayor Luigi Bobbio to "restore urban decorum and facilitate better civil coexistence." At least, that's what Bobbio told the Guardian.
"I think it's the right decision," the local parish priest, Don Paulo Cecere told the Cronache di Napoli newspaper. "It's also a way of combating the rise in sexual harassment."
In his effort to promote modesty, Mayor Bobbio has drawn questions from leftists asking if his city is in the province of Naples or Teheran during a sit-in outside the town hall. The Taliban-esque measure is part of a list of 41 new rules pass on Monday night that will also ban low-cut tops and low-slung jeans.
Meant to target citizens who the mayor deems "rowdy, unruly or simply badly behaved," the ordinance is sure to impact Italy's reputation as the ass-pinching capital of Europe. So what's a juicehead jezebel to do when faced with a fine of 300€?
The Naples-area tourist trap will also see the disappearance of swearing in public, playing football in parks and walking a dog on a leash longer than two meters. Perhaps the fascist draconian details are part of a wave of Mussolini nostalgia. But between migrant unrest in Greece and last week's announcement of a ban on smoking in public place in Spain, southern Europe is quickly losing its notoriety as a naughty vacation ground.