More Time to Buy in Italy, but Is That a Good Thing? ROME - The first days of the new year have heralded a subtle revolution in Italy: the deregulation of operating hours for commercial venues like shops, bars and restaurants. And as revolutions tend to go, the measure has aroused praise in some corners and howls of protest in others. Introduced in December as part of Prime Minister Mario Monti's crisis-averting package, known as Save Italy, the measure permits shopkeepers everywhere to set their own hours and sharply reduces the norms that once regulated entrepreneurs trying to set up shop. Although many consumers cheered, thrilled at the prospect of buying milk, bread or whatever after hours, small-enterprise associations - as well as number of regional government leaders - have denounced the new rules, calling them the death knell for mom-and-pop stores already struggling in Italy's recessionary economy. People don't buy in a moment of recession. If your buying power is limited, that isn't going to change if a store stays open later," said Valter Giammaria, president of the Rome chapter of Confesercenti, an organization for small and midsize businesses. His organization, he said, is considering shutting down stores in protest. Mr. Giammaria said that small retailers in Italy were already being squeezed by competition with supermarkets, not to mention the slumping economy, and that in Rome alone 10,000 small shops had closed in the past three years, putting about 35,000 people out of work. The government has to rethink this whole thing. Otherwise it is only going to help large chain stores," he said. We're on the side of small retailers. By that he means people like Angelo Salis, who operates a tiny bar in central Rome with his grown children and fears having to work longer hours - and Sundays - to stay in the game. "It's fine if you own a large business, with lots of employees, but when it's all in the family, I just don't know," Mr. Salis said, shaking his head. Local residents" groups are also on the warpath, fearful that giving bars carte blanche will make for sleepless nights. Mr. Monti's fledgling government has earmarked several ways in which to encourage growth in the Italian economy, which has been at a near standstill for the past decade. These include opening up closed occupations and measures to promote competition. But judging by the protests against deregulation of business hours these days and the failed attempts last month to loosen up access to professions like taxi operators and pharmacists, Mr. Monti is facing an uphill battle. Presidents of several Italian regions, which have traditionally overseen laws regulating some aspects of retail commerce, complain that the legislation is encroaching on their territory and have pledged to fight the changes in court. "Consumerism is not the right response to the crisis," Enrico Rossi, president of the Tuscany region, told ANSA, a news agency. It is an insult to our cultural identity, out traditions and our history. "We expect the church will make its voice known," he added. The Vatican has so far kept quiet on the issue. Some economists who study the retail sector acknowledge that keeping stores open longer is unlikely to increase spending, especially at a time when Italians are paying higher taxes and tightening their belts. But the effort to encourage competition is a welcome signal in a country with a corporate mentality that dates to the guilds of the Middle Ages and is averse to change. "Economically, this won't change anything," predicted Roberto Ravazzoni at the Center for Research on Marketing and Services at Bocconi University in Milan. What counts is the spirit of the reform, he said, "because it is moving towards greater competition. The government's just started with something easy. The issue has "made a lot of noise," he added, "because it touches on so many aspects of society, like work, labor, family, as well as religion. It's way beyond economics. Still, though the economic impact might be limited, the social consequences will not be, Mr. Ravazzoni predicted, "giving options to people crushed by time." As salaries are unlikely to grow in the current climate, "giving them the option of when to buy, we can at least simplify the life of consumers," he said.