UK tourists warned over people being 'expelled' from major city in Italy

The mayor of Florence in Italy has issued a warning over people being "expelled" from the European Union holiday hotspot. Sara Funaro has warned that the city's locals are being "expelled" due to the surge in Airbnb rentals.

In an interview with The Times, Ms Funaro said: "People are being expelled from the city. Because of short-term rentals, students and even people on medium wages cannot find anywhere to live in Florence." There is also a campaign – known as ‘Save Florence’ – that is trying to raise awareness of the city’s problems.

Leader of the crusade, IT engineer Massimo Torelli, said: “Seems pretty quiet here today, but that's because the last resident moved out recently. There's no one left on this street, just tourists.” Florence city council said that from next year, the boxes will be banned in the Unesco-recognised historic centre “for reasons of decorum and safety”.

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Sara Funaro, the city’s new mayor, said she wanted to promote “a more sustainable model of tourism, manage tourist numbers and improve the quality of life for residents”. She added: “You just have to walk through the city centre and you will see how many key boxes there are on historic palazzi.”

The city, which is a go to for British tourists, is to ban the key boxes that have become a hated symbol of the burgeoning short-term rental market in its historic centre, firing the latest salvo in the battle against mass tourism in Europe, it has claimed.

The metal boxes, from which tourists retrieve the keys to short-term let properties as part of a self-check-in process, have become a much-loathed symbol of the rising number of apartments available for rent on platforms such as Airbnb.

It comes as protests continue to sweep places like Portugal, Spain and France to boot.