Starting Friday, Italians need a pass certifying immunity to sit down inside coffee bars and restaurants as well as access to venues such as cinemas, museums, pools and gyms. The requirement is waived for outdoor dining or buying a coffee at the counter.
For now, the nudge, or rather shove, seems to be having the desired effect, with regions posting a jump in vaccination appointments from 15 to 200 percent, according to Il Sole 24 Ore.
But those who are opposed are waging a noisy campaign, calling the rules unconstitutional, discriminatory and an assault on individual freedom.
The anti-green pass camp includes its share of conspiracy theorists and libertarians, but many are owners of bars and restaurants, who say the green pass is an extra burden on top of the strict guidelines already in place, like reduced capacity.
“We are the sector that has suffered the most in the pandemic,” she said.
Italy is facing the same challenge seen by governments around the world, as policymakers become creative in encouraging citizens to get vaccinated while the Delta variant surges.
Under the new rules, adults and teenagers will be required to prove immunity from COVID-19 by showing one of the following: A digital or paper document that indicates they have at least one dose of a recognized vaccine; documentation they had COVID-19 within the past six months; or a negative test result in the past 48 hours.
Weekly case totals have been rising since lockdown eased at the end of June, from 5,000 to 38,000, while the percentage of people testing positive has risen from 2 to 11 percent.
It doesn’t help that the southern regions of Italy — which are most popular with vacationers — are also the most diffident about vaccines.
Some vaccine skepticism stems from deep-seated distrust of government, the rural character of the region, and the fact that it wasn’t as hard-hit by COVID-19 as the north, say public health experts.
But now, with its COVID-19 hospitalization rate the highest in the country, Sicily is at risk of returning to a partial lockdown.
Italy’s trust in vaccines was already relatively weak by European standards before the pandemic.
Last week, the Brothers of Italy occupied parliament in protest, forcing the sitting to be suspended.
“We are not anti-vaccination, but the green pass law is an indirect obligation that amounts to blackmail,” he said later.
He claimed victory Friday by boasting the League had prevented hotels from being affected by the rules, and that families wouldn’t see vacations ruined because they have the option to get tested instead of getting a vaccine.
While 11-13 percent of Italians are largely opposed to getting the vaccine, the figure is much higher among voters on the right, according to research by Demos.