That was the week that was - NO SMOKING

10th January 2005
This morning the face of Italy has been changed for ever. From midnight last night smoking has been banned from all bars and restaurants in Italy. Smokers will have to go in an closed room set aside just for smokers if there is one provided or smoke outside. full article here



11th January 2005
To celebrate this brave move which once again puts Italy back on course to taking its rightful place as the country of culture inside Europe, a local artist put up an installation of his work about smoking inside Aristodemo's bar in Barga Vechhia.

Ten year ago he spent months cutting out images from Panorama of people smoking. He assembled a collage of these images and constructed a curtain which was originally designed to hang in a school in the area. It is interesting to note that most adults fail to notice that in all the images there is a cigarette. ... an almost all children note this detail first. full article here



12th January 2005
A far darker note was struck in Barga this week when Barga Vecchia was filled with smoke from a house fire that tragically caused the death of an elderly woman trapped in the flames and smoke. full article here



14th January 2005
To end the week with a small amount of humour: the only place left in Barga where it is possible for smokers to congregate and socialise inside away from the colder winter air, is the Barga Jazz Club. As it is a private club it is still possible to smoke inside. Members where talking about voluntarily dividing the place into a smokers part and a non smokers part but on friday the smokers were to be found in both halves and so a spoof non smokers website was set up, much to the chagrin of many of the (smoking) members. full article here