No HGV's in Verona!

View of Verona, an HGV free zone

We have just come back from a short break in northern Italy, visiting the beautiful cities of Verona, Vicenza and Padua.   It will, I am sure come as no surprise to readers that in the historic centres of these lovely places there was no sign of the heavy goods vehicles that blight our mediaeval towns here in Suffolk.

Illustrated below is the largest van that we saw delivering groceries in the historic centre of Verona. Most delivery vehicles were smaller.  It is clear that the fragile built environment of the city is protected by rules that insist that goods are decanted into smaller vans before they are delivered to the town centre.

When I try to argue the case for a similar system here in the UK, I am told that it would be 'bad for business'.   But here was no sign that business in Verona is being in any way adversely affected.  Indeed, it is clear that government. both local and national, in Italy has taken on board the fact that if historical heritage is not preserved, then their tourist dependent economy will suffer.

We really do need to think again about how we cope with the increasingly large vehicles on our own roads, and can take some hints from the Italians.