OT Enjoy a fag? Well keep away from Milan

It's all change for the trendy crowds along the canals of Milan, used to holding a glass of aperitivo in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Because a ban on smoking outdoors has just come into force in a range of public places.

The navigli (Italian pronunciation: [naˈviʎʎi]; Lombard: Navili [naˈʋiːli], singular and plural) are a system of interconnected canals in and around Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy, dating back as far as the Middle Ages.

The system consists of five canals: Naviglio Grande, Naviglio Pavese, Naviglio Martesana, Naviglio di Paderno, Naviglio di Bereguardo. The first three were connected through Milan via the Fossa Interna, also known as the Inner Ring. The urban section of the Naviglio Martesana was covered over at the beginning of the 1930s, together with the entire Inner Ring, thus sounding the death knell for the north-eastern canals. Commercial carrying continued on the Naviglio Grande, but the decline was steady and by the 1960s a project of a fluvial port to reach the Po River and consequentially the Adriatic Sea through the canals was shelved for good.

Today, the canals are mostly used for irrigation. Some tourist navigation options are also available along certain sections.[1]