Want to Smoke Outdoors in Milan? Better Be Far From Other People.

Movies like Fellini’s 1960 film “La Dolce Vita” created an image of Italy as a smokers’ paradise. Cigarettes were the ubiquitous props of glamorous socialites, jaded reporters and just about anyone seated at a cafe.

Those days are long gone. A series of laws gradually banned smoking at shared indoor spaces like movie theaters and restaurants.

Now, the city of Milan’s center-left government has taken the crackdown one step further, becoming the first major Italian city to ban smoking outside unless the smoker is pretty far from other people. No more huddling around the doors of office buildings. And no more grabbing an after-dinner smoke at the outdoor tables at restaurants.

Under the new rules, which went into effect Jan. 1, smoking is banned everywhere except for “isolated areas where it’s possible to respect a distance of at least 33 feet from other people.”

“People will smoke a little less, which is good for their health and everybody’s health, and those who don’t smoke will be less exposed to secondhand smoke,” Milan’s deputy mayor, Anna Scavuzzo, said in a recent interview. “We will get used to the fact that smokers have to pay more attention to what they are doing, not nonsmokers.”

Milan is Italy’s fashion and design capital, known to attract chic — and often black clad — visitors for taste-setting events throughout the year. Those arriving for the fashion week this month will no longer find ashtrays on cafe tables, and the visitors who frequent the trendy Navigli district will be hard pressed to find someplace to light up.