Sitting on church steps in Florence or Venice is now illegal and subject to 50-euro fines (about $56). The new ordinance applies to the areas around the Duomo in Florence and the Basilica of St. Mark in St. Mark’s Square in Venice. The campaign is an effort to get the millions of tourists who flow through these famous cities each summer to treat historical sites with respect. Church officials have complained that the area around the Duomo has become an open toilet at night and police in Venice have asked tourists to maintain decorum around these sites or pay the price. Venice officials even went so far as to create a code of conduct for tourists.
