Italy is inundated with illegal outdoor dining.

We've become a country of grocers, with cities choked with food souks. All under the banner of widespread lawlessness.

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globalization of food
I “wild tables” , or tables and chairs placed outdoors by bars, restaurants or clubs without authorization, or in an excessive way compared to what is allowed by the municipality, they represent the symbols of a country that has lost its vital energy, and has taken refuge on the one hand in the certainties of food and its surroundings to express its entrepreneurial and cultural fragility, and on the other in a continuous encroachment far beyond what can be considered legitimate.
According to some statistics the dehors Between 30 and 50 percent of those we encounter along the streets and sidewalks occupied by "wild tables" are illegal. In Rome, more than half are in the historic center, where walking is already difficult due to the invasion of groups of tourists huddled behind caravans of umbrellas. In Milan and Florence, more than one fine is issued every day for illegal occupation of public land, but this doesn't stop the invasion of "wild tables." For the simple reason that behind this bad habit lies a structural change affecting the economy, society, and lifestyles.
We are invaded by foodEverywhere. In the streets, in the squares, in the gardens, in the historic centers. In cities and villages, on islands and in the centers of our mountains. At the top of a church staircase, as well as in the heart of the most important archaeological excavations in the world.

Pizzerias, small restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors, kiosks and stalls, trucks, huts and an expanse of dehorsThis new microeconomics has now distorted the landscape, not just urban, not just historic centers, but Bella Italia in general. With yet another disfigurement and waste of the territory. Consider the case of Rome, one of the most glaring, where the historic center has been reduced to a gigantic souk, with the destruction and disappearance of an entire chain of small artisans, shops, places of history and identityOr think of Pompeii, where the distortion of a magical place to the advantage of a small tribe of small-time traffickers engaged in pseudo-commercial activities blocks any idea of ​​revitalizing this extraordinary resource, wasted not by a city or a region, but by Italy.

We have become a country of grocers, with cities, of all sizes, suffocated by food souks., where aesthetics (often hideous locations) and ethics (respect for others, and the abuse of "wild tables") blur. Food has completely left homes and its designated places and has entered, like an avalanche, into the urban fabric, to the point of turning entire areas into open-air cafes.

Ma Who benefits from all this? Certainly not the citizens residing in the places, the local community, often and continuously subjected to the uncivilized pressure of people who eat perched on a stool in the middle of the street or on a staircase of great artistic value, swallowing pizzas and sandwiches, spaghetti, sushi, kebabs, and falafel. Everything and more. The economy does not benefit from itBecause this circus of grocers impoverishes the area twice over. It empties it of other economic activities, as we've said, and fills it with low-cost tourists, who bring more filth and vandalism than real economic benefits. With the exception, of course, of the lucky grocers who, perhaps with a dirty, substandard shack, also become rich.

The invasion of food, without any restraints, without any rules or checks on street furniture, in the dark shadow of a creeping corruption for permits and authorizations, It is a blow to the heart of Italy, and in some ways it represents its decadence in the most effective way..

(Cover image credits: Sanga Park / Shutterstock.com)

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