FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Florence is famed for its contributions to Italian artwork, structure and delicacies. However nowadays, native leaders within the metropolis thought to be the birthplace of the Renaissance are involved with extra mundane issues: paying the payments.
Amid hovering power prices throughout Europe, officers at Palazzo Vecchio — the constructing that serves as Florence’s metropolis corridor in addition to a museum —-have teamed up with a neighborhood nonprofit to assist fixed-income retirees preserve their energy on via an “Undertake-a-Invoice” fundraising marketing campaign.
“Florence is a metropolis the place you reside nicely, and for that reason, too, individuals stay very lengthy,” Mayor Dario Nardella mentioned.
A big variety of Florence’s retirees, nevertheless, stay on lower than 9,000 euros ($10,205) a yr and might’t afford to make ends meet with an anticipated 55% improve in dwelling electrical energy prices and a 42% hike in residential gasoline payments, he mentioned.
Widower Luigi Boni, 96, confirms that. He says that by the tip of February, he could have emptied his checking account and spent his month-to-month pension test of underneath 600 euros ($680) earlier than overlaying utilities.
“Both I eat or I pay the hire,” Boni mentioned as he sat on his couch with a every day newspaper in his arms.
To help him and others amongst Florence’s estimated 30,000 residents over age 65 and residing alone, town administration launched the fundraising marketing campaign with the nonprofit Montedomini Basis, which runs tasks geared toward serving to town’s retirees.
The marketing campaign raised 33,000 euros (greater than $37,000) in its first few days. Non-public residents, together with Florentines residing overseas, made greater than 200 donations, in accordance with town’s welfare counselor, Sara Funaro.
“Our purpose is to lift funds to guarantee that each aged one that asks us for assist can obtain assist to cowl the rise in payments resulting from (power prices) rising,” Funaro mentioned.
Spiking power costs are elevating utility payments — and driving a report rise in inflation — from Poland to the UK. In response, governments throughout Europe are dashing to move help for residents and companies as utility firms move on prices to customers.
In Turkey, the place the financial strain is excessive and has fueled protests, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir are amongst opposition-led municipalities with comparable “Undertake-a-Invoice” initiatives. Istanbul’s municipal web site says almost 49 million Turkish lira (about $3.6 million) was donated since 2020, overlaying 320,000 utility payments.
Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s authorities has handed measures valued at greater than 8 billion euros ($9 billion) to assist blunt the affect of hovering power costs for companies and people.
The federal government’s most up-to-date decree, issued Friday, additionally had a forward-looking part: it regarded to speed up Italy’s transition to extra renewable power sources, notably solar energy, to make the nation much less depending on imported provides.
Italy presently imports 90% of its gasoline, a lot of it from Russia, and Draghi has insisted that any European Union sanctions to punish Russia for recognizing two separatist-controlled areas of japanese Ukraine should exempt the power sector.
The Italian mayors’ affiliation has mentioned the federal government’s response has to this point been inadequate to assist cities deal with a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of euros in extra power prices, making them select between balancing budgets or slicing providers.
Florence, Rome and different cities stored their municipal monuments and native authorities buildings darkish on Feb. 10 to attract consideration to the scenario.
Florence’s Undertake-a-Invoice marketing campaign enjoys common assist. In addition to being a high vacationer vacation spot, the capital of Italy’s Tuscany area has a protracted report of efficiently offering social providers to poor and weak residents.
“It’s an important initiative as a result of you’ll be able to assist individuals who can’t make it to pay a invoice that in a shameless means has reached unsustainable prices,” mentioned Luca Menoni, the proprietor of a butcher’s store in Florence’s Sant’Ambrogio indoor meals market.
“I personally am paying a (electrical energy) invoice double what I used to,” Menoni mentioned.
Boni could also be getting some assist along with his power payments to get him via the winter and stave off an anticipated transfer right into a nursing dwelling. However he nonetheless has a good price range that doesn’t permit many luxuries.
“Steaks? Meat? Let’s not even speak about it. I eat (low-cost) packaged meals,” he mentioned. After his spouse died, he mentioned, “I grew to become an professional in financial cooking.”
___
Nicole Winfield in Rome, and Zeynep Bilginsoy, in Istanbul, contributed to this report.