Italy has always been known as a country with few problems with alcohol consumption - and that is also reflected in the lack of any laws to control who is allowed to purchase alcoholic drinks.
The levels of consumption by the young observed in Milano, however, has forced the mayor to impose a ban for the under-16s. The ban will be enforced with fines for both the seller of the drinks and the consumer. In fact, it is the parents of the offending teenager that risk to be fined up to 450 Euro.
Milano's mayor, Letizia Moratti, stated that she believed this to be a "necessary law". She added: "We are the first in Italy to do so and home to be the first to obtain positive results, there are over 750 000 minors in Italy that consume alcohol and in Milano 34% of eleven year olds have already had some drink-related problems. We think that this ban will partly resolve the problem but a complete solution needs to be accompanied by more long-term educational programs.".
