Milan's Fashion District has been closed to traffic since May 12

Starting Monday, May 12, Milan's fashion district, the luxury shopping district, will be closed to traffic. It will officially become a ZTL zone, with some exemptions to allow loading and unloading for commercial activities, as part of a larger project that sees the pedestrianization of a large area of ​​the center, from the Sforza Castle to Corso di Porta Venezia, which will come to life by 2027. The opposition of the merchants has not stopped the intentions of Palazzo Marino.

The ZTL will be in force every day, 24 hours a day, in the blocks defined by via Manzoni, Senato, San Damiano, corso Monforte, Cino del Duca. From the activation date, two months of pre-exercise of the cameras are planned, a period in which the "electronic eyes" will be used to carry out tests to verify the correct functioning of automatic detection of violations, but will not sanction. Any fines may however be issued by the Local Police officers.

After months of discussion with trade associations and logistics operators, the Ministry of Transport has given its approval, with the following hours: vehicles transporting goods will be able to access from 8 pm to 1 am and from 9 am to 11 am and, if intended for the transport of perishable food, also from 4 pm to 6 pm.

The exemption times were defined based on a study by Amat on the trend of pedestrian flows, which found that the time slot of maximum intensity is between 11 am and 6 pm, with a peak of pedestrians per hour (about 7 thousand) between 1 pm and 3 pm. These two elements allowed the times to be varied, finding a solution suitable for a pedestrian-only area.

The access ban will be in force for all vehicles with the exception (upon registration) of residents and domiciled persons, owners of garages or parking spaces in the ZTL, those who are heading to garages in the area, service vehicles for companies that deal with maintenance (for example water and gas systems), craftsmen and installers who occasionally provide services (who are granted 50 entries per year) and vehicles of organizations that offer free first aid and social-health care services.