Short-term rentals: for the Tar the ban in Florence is no longer valid. The new mayor: let's go ahead

However, the new mayor of Florence Sara Funaro (Pd), elected last June, lets it be known that the battle waged by her predecessor continues. "We are going ahead without delay: in the first useful session of the junta I will bring the approval of the variant to reaffirm the stop to short rentals. There remains the inertia of a government that is indifferent to the problems of overtourism that afflict cities of art like Florence. I will continue to ask the government for national measures that are increasingly urgent'.

Nardella keeps to the point. The road taken by Florence is 'the right one': 'The TAR does not enter into the merits and does not declare the Municipality's resolution illegitimate. Therefore, no rejection by the administrative judges'. The Dem MEP says that he has 'initiated a debate in Brussels with the European deputies of the Spanish, French and Dutch delegations in particular. Our goal is to formally urge the European commission, as soon as it is installed, to issue rules that give mayors and local and regional authorities incisive powers to regulate the phenomenon of tourist rentals and limit or block them in certain areas of cities and for certain periods. These instruments are necessary to facilitate an active policy on affordable housing prices'.

The Tar's decision, according to Airbnb, 'is good news for Florentine families who would like to share their homes to make ends meet. Airbnb is a support for thousands of Italians: a third of hosts say the extra income helps them maintain their properties and combat the rising cost of living. However, we recognise the challenges that the historic centres of cities of art such as Florence face; this is why we renew our willingness to collaborate on effective regulations, including through a new legislative framework of reference'.

For Marco Celani, president of Aigab (Association of short-term rental managers), the ruling "defeats the actions of the Nardella junta, demonstrating that the road of restrictions on short-term rentals taken by mayors by arbitrarily modifying town planning regulations is wrong. The ruling clearly states that the same legislator, having passed the previous urban planning variant with a new regulation, without this time inserting the restrictions that should have limited overtourism, in fact considers the phenomenon outdated. In short, a big mess that we hope other Italian cities, starting with Bologna and Venice, will not want to imitate'.

The ruling, comments Lorenzo Fagnoni, president of Property Managers Italia, 'marks a clear victory for entrepreneurs and many citizens, with a defeat and a historic figure of Palazzo Vecchio. We are happy, but we hope that the municipality will learn its lesson and stop with damaging spot measures".