Turin and its “wild” terraces, half of which are irregular. Residents: «Tables and chairs even outside the front door»

Where once there were parking lots, today there are dehors. Where once one walked in peace, today it is a triumph of tables. Pubs and restaurants tend to allow themselves more and more space outside their activities, after all, larger seats are synonymous with greater earnings.

For residents, however, the rise of chairs and tables on the street has started to create some nuisance. «In via Lagrange, during the week, the vans can’t even get through to make deliveries or unload goods – they say Franco and Cinzia Ferrero, who live in nearby Via Rattazzi –. On weekends, however, the passage is completely blocked because some locals have arrived to take over half of the street. For people with prams or parents with strollers it is a real inconvenience, they struggle to move».

A situation that did not escape the attention of the local police commands who carried out checks in all districts from 2023 to the first months of 2024, focusing more on the center. An audit followed 1,554 terraces (out of a total of approximately 2,500 equipped in the city), 1,193 of which were found not to comply with the Highway Code, which defines the rules for the occupation of public land.

Translated into percentage it means that over 76% of the terraces checked were not found to be in order: three out of four. But also one in two looking at the absolute numbers. To the managers and owners the first sanctions have arrived for the activity in question, for an amount ranging from 173 to 694 euros. Not only that, in the first six months of the year, 70 dehors in a state of abandonment were removed due to the initiative of the owners or the intervention of the City.
Good news for residents who complain about the problem, especially for those who live in nightlife neighborhoods.

«The profusion of terraces and tables in public spaces is a situation with which we have been forced to live for some time – he says Silvia Gardawho lives in Borgo Rossini and is part of the movement Sorry, I live here” -. It often happens that residents find chairs and tables just outside their front door. A further inconvenience that adds to all the other negative consequences of the nightlife. The controls are goodbut even more attention would be needed in notoriously crowded places, such as ours.”

This is not the only neighborhood affected by the wild management of outdoor areas, a phenomenon that has exploded since 2020.

The watershedIn fact, it was the pandemic, Covid, that required more distancing between people and more outdoor spaces. From that moment there was no turning back, as Vincenzo Nasi, president of Epat, the association of public businesses in Turin, explains: «We are still under an extraordinary regime, which has been extended at a national level until the end of 2024. therefore subject to a real investigation on the dehors as happened before the pandemic. Activities can occupy a greater number of square meters than in the past, by communicating this to the Municipality and paying the relevant tax. Hence the tendency to occupy more public space arises, which however falls within the parameters of the law if all the rules are respected. On the one hand, I think there is some confusion about the management of outdoor areas. On the other hand, however, it must be said that, as in all sectors, There are those who respect the regulations and those who don’t. It is correct that violators pay a fine, it is undoubtedly unfortunate that there are so many of them.”

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