ROME — A police crackdown on unauthorized air conditioning units in the seaside Italian resort town of Portofino has ignited local “vendettas” as neighbors spy and report on one another for the infraction, local media report.
Until a few years ago, the installation of AC units was entirely banned in Portofino, and while the rules have been slightly relaxed, homeowners must ask permission for the privilege and obtain official authorization before mounting a unit.
Installing air conditioning without permission entails stiff penalties, with fines for the offense reaching nearly €50,000.
Local police have been combing the town’s narrow streets for unauthorized air conditioners and have reportedly been abetted in their search by local residents who tattle on each other.
According to the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, police received reports of 22 illegally installed AC units on various rooftops and terraces between January and May, and another 15 units since June, when Italy’s proverbially hot summers are just getting into high gear.
Local officials have received anonymous tips as well as emails with attached photos of offending units on balconies and roofs. Some of the more devious vigilantes have reportedly even accepted an invitation into the home of a neighbor, only to secretly take a picture of a unit that then gets forwarded to police.
“It all began last winter when someone put in an air conditioning unit that covered a big part of a very narrow street,” Portofino mayor Matteo Viacava told the Guardian newspaper. “The summers have been getting much hotter and July and August have been sweltering and very humid.”
“It’s not that we want people to suffer and have their sleep disrupted by the heat … We all depend on AC now,” he added. “But Portofino is located in a regional park and there are rules that need to be respected.”
“We just want to ensure that the constraints are respected and beauty of Portofino is maintained,” he said. “They need to be put in places that are not visible. Slowly, slowly, we are getting it all in order.”
Historically, Italians have been suspicious of air conditioning and are quick to blame it for summer colds and stiff necks. Nonetheless, the demand for AC in Italy has spiked in recent years and now some half of all Italian households have an AC unit.
Even Pope Francis had waded into the fray, singling out air conditioning in his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Sì as an example of “harmful habits of consumption” and “self-destructive” behavior.
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