Italy's northern regions have joined forces to combat smog and will this week sign an accord which includes a one-day traffic ban throughout their territories later this month.
The initiative, organised independently of the central government in Rome, involves Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia Romagna and the provinces of Trento and Bolzano.
Announcing the plan on Monday, Lombardy's regional government chief Roberto Formigoni said a pre-agreement had also been signed with Switzerland's Canton Ticino, just over the Italian border, to ally it with the traffic ban on February 25.
"The battle against pollution is widening, and this is important because the larger the area where action is taken, the quicker the results will come," Formigoni said.
Details of the accord will be announced on Wednesday but, among other things, it is believed to involve a complete ban on the most polluting vehicles by 2010.
Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio welcomed the northern regions' plan of a one-day ban, saying it was an important way of raising public awareness.
"Now, the state and local authorities have to work together to implement structural, lasting measures," he added, referring to the need for greater use of railways and 'greener' transport systems in cities.
One of the key pollution problems faced by big Italian cities, many of which are in the north, is fine particle, or PM10, pollution. Nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels are also said to be too high, although carbon monoxide and lead levels are under control.
Pecoraro Scanio said last month that addressing the "emergency" depicted by recent pollution reports should be the government's top priority.
In 2006 PM10 levels repeatedly exceeded limits that experts consider dangerous for health, according to environmental group Legambiente.
Under rules which came into effect in 2005 drastic anti-smog measures are called for if PM10 pollution rises above 50 micrograms per cubic metre for more than 35 days in a year.
LIMITS EXCEEDED.
In 2006 this limit was exceeded on at least 206 days in Palermo, 183 in Verona and 162 in Turin, the report said. Italy's two biggest cities, Rome and Milan, also fare poorly with 125 and 152 days respectively.
About 70% of PM10 pollution in cities such as Milan and Rome is allegedly caused by traffic pollution.
In recent years several cities have held occasional 'no-car' days in a bid to bring PM10 levels down. Others have introduced rules that limit circulation on Thursdays.
Rome city hall, along with administrators in several northern cities, has just scheduled a series of traffic bans and restrictions for the spring as part of an anti-smog campaign.
But critics say such one-off measures fail to tackle the real problem, which they say is structural and should be addressed with measures to reduce the number of cars in circulation permanently.
According to figures released recently by the World Health Organisation, between 2002 and 2004 PM10 caused an average of 8,220 deaths a year in Italy. It was responsible for 742 cases of lung cancer, 2,562 heart attacks and 329 strokes.
Legambiente's study said that if PM10 could be kept to an average of 40 micrograms per cubic metre, around 2,270 deaths could be avoided. If values fell to 20 micrograms, mortalities would be eliminated.
