A venue in the Lido of Venice had imposed a price, complete with a receipt: one euro to use the toilets.
Instead, it is a small, minimal story that was shared on social media (a Facebook group with numerous members) by a woman from Cagliari who found herself having an urgent need while she was in Quartu: to use the toilet in a bar she was forced to pay 2.50 euros.
The name of the place, reported in the post, is irrelevant here: "Having an urgent need to use the bathroom, I enter the first bar I find," says FP, who names it. Then he continues: "I kindly ask to use the bathroom for an urgent need. The lady at the counter asks me if I need to consume, I answer that I don't need to consume but if it had been necessary I would have paid for a glass of water."
But the reply took her by surprise: "The lady, in front of all the customers of the moment, arrogantly tells me that a glass of water wasn't enough. Speechless, I go to the bathroom and then go back to the lady who is waiting for me to get something."
The water, apparently, "was no good. Too much expense for the bathroom, as well as for toilet paper and water. Finding myself therefore forced to buy something to cover the expenses, even though I had used my own handkerchiefs."
In the end, "2.50 euros to go to the bathroom: not only the expense, however insignificant, but the lack of tact towards me in front of customers, the arrogance, the lack of common sense and the total lack of female solidarity. Too bad I was in a hurry because I would have called the police."
The opinions expressed in the comments are divided: there are those who agree with the woman and those who, instead, defend the barmaid. Although, in general, there is some doubt about the sum.
The TAR ruling
Public toilets, however, are not public. As explained by the website Consumatori.it, this was clarified by a ruling by the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany, the result of an appeal against a resolution by the City Council that required public toilets to guarantee free use of the toilet “to anyone who requests it”. «The ruling by the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany», it says, «affirms that “the excessive economic burden” of the obligation to provide free use of the toilet could lead to a limitation of the freedom of economic initiative, in violation of art. 41 of the Constitution. The proof of this burden, the ruling indicates, “is easily seen in the fact that the provision of the same service by the Municipality (through the provision of public toilets) is onerous and not free” and that therefore “the Municipality of Florence claims to require private individuals to provide free of charge a service that, when provided by the Municipality itself, is, instead, for a fee”. The right to use the toilets in public places is therefore reserved for those who consume, while public toilets are available to everyone and require a fixed fee to be used."
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)