By: Loris Tissino

  In 150 Italian cities the experiment of a Sunday without cars was "a success", according to its inventor, Edo Ronchi, Minister of Environment.
  Some towns banned the cars in all their territory, some only in the centre. Some only for few hours, some all day long. But everywhere people seemed to like the initiative. Free rides on busses and trams, and low-priced entrance-fees on museums added to the positive attitude.
  People walked, skated, and, of course, biked. In many towns ecological organizations and the green party organized public demonstrations to make people aware of the fact that it wouldn't be impossible to be less car-dependent also in everyday life. Many people expressed the idea that this experiment should become a real policy.
  FIAB (the Italian Federation of bicycle advocacy groups) emphasized the role of the bicycle for short travels, like home-to-work and home-to-school, and asked the Minister of the Environment to consider it in the planning for sustainable mobility and [asked] local administrations to urge their "mobility managers" (a new office introduced by a recent law) to focus on bicycles for finding solutions to traffic-related problems.
  The next car-free Sundays in Italy will be on March 5th, April 9th, and May 7th.
  The EU Commisioner for the Environment, Margot Wallström, is presently working to get a large number of European cities to join a common car-free day on September 22nd. So far cities in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, England,Denmark and Finland have pledged to join the campaign.

Loris Tissino is the Italian translator and correspondent of the Bicycle News Agency