ANSA: Italy starts gradually easing COVID-19 restrictions
The decree, which will be in force from Monday until the end of July, reintroduces yellow zones, where measures are less severe as the contagion risk is considered only moderate, in the country's tiered system of restrictions, ANSA reports.
At the moment regions can only be classed as high-risk red zones or medium-high-risk orange zones.
A ban on movement between regions has been scrapped by the new decree.
People will be able to move freely between yellow zones and obtain a 'green pass' for travel involving orange and red zones.
The pass will be valid for six months for people who have had COVID or have been vaccinated and for 48 hours for people who have not, but have tested negative for the coronavirus.
People who make false statements to obtain the pass will risk jail.
Theatres, museums and cinemas will be allowed to reopen in yellow zones and open-air concerts and other shows will be allowed too.
Restaurants will be able to serve people at outdoor tables at lunch and dinner in yellow zones.
But restaurants that do not have outdoor spaces will have to wait until June 1 to serve people at tables again and then only at lunchtime.
The amount of time high-school students spend in class is set to increase, although not go up to 100%, as the government had hoped, because local authorities said this could lead to public transport services being overloaded.
So high-school students will have at least 70% of their classes in school in orange and yellow zones and at least 50% in red zones, with the rest being taught via distance learning.
At the moment, high-school students are having all their lessons via distance learning in red zones and 25-50% in orange and yellow ones.
Open-air swimming pools will be able to open from May 15 in yellow zones.
Indoor gyms will be able to open in yellow zones on June 1 and sporting events considered of 'national interest' will be able to have a limited number of spectators.
Trade fairs will be able to resume on June 15, with congresses and theme parks able to reopen on July 1.
The government has decided that Italy's night-time curfew, which is aimed at preventing get-togethers that could spread COVID-19, is set to continue to kick in at 10pm for the time being.
Many regional governments and Matteo Salvini's League party had been pressing for the curfew to start at 11pm Government sources have said the start of the curfew may be put back to 11pm in the near future if the data on the spread of the coronavirus improves sufficiently.
Over half of Italy's regions - Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Molise, Piedmont, Umbria and Veneto - look set to be classed as yellow zones next week on the basis of their latest coronavirus data as do the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.