Italy to rein in Sunday trading

THE new Italian government will ban Sunday shopping in large commercial centres by the end of the year.

Deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio said the move would help defend the traditional day of worship and rest.

Sunday trading was liberalised in 2012 by then-prime minister Mario Monti in the face of pressure from the Roman Catholic Church and unions.

Mr Di Maio, head of the anti-Establishment Five Star Movement, said: ‘This liberalisation is in fact destroying Italian families … we need to start limiting opening and closing times again.’

Small shopkeepers in Italy have long sought to overturn Mr Monti’s reform, saying their businesses face unfair competition from shopping centres.

Mr Di Maio said shops in large outof-town malls would also have to close on national holidays.