Rome on Tuesday became the latest Italian city to increase fines for prostitutes and their clients in a bid to clean up the streets and strike at rackets that force women to sell sex.
Right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno said the city council had set fines at 200 euros but would increase this to 500 euros within a fortnight.
''We believe prostitution is a social plague,'' he said.
Alemanno stressed that women who were forced onto the streets by organised rackets would not be fined but instead receive support from social services.
A Rome mechanic identified as Franco was the first victim of the new decree on Tuesday after he was caught soliciting a Brazilian transsexual on the outskirts of Rome.
''I didn't know anything about the new fines. I'm not hurting anyone. I woke up this morning at six to go to work and as I was on my way home I passed the prostitutes: if they're here, you use them,'' he said, adding that he ''would not be voting for Alemanno again''.
A 22-year-old Romanian was the first prostitute to be slapped with a fine on Tuesday, which she said she could not afford to pay.
Padua and Verona were the first large Italian cities to set the maximum 500 euro fine in August, shortly after the government gave greater powers to city mayors to deal with public safety issues as part of its emergency security decree.
At the moment only the exploitation of prostitution - pimping - is illegal in Italy, but city mayors combat the phenomenon through the use of fines, often via road traffic or public decency laws.
However, earlier this month the cabinet gave a first green light to a new bill that will make street prostitution illegal.
If passed, the bill will hit both sex workers and clients with fines ranging from 200 to 3,000 euros and jail terms of between five and 15 days.
It also foresees harsher penalties for clients who have sex with minors, and the repatriation of teenagers without family in Italy who are caught prostituting themselves.
Opposition politicians have criticised the bill, saying that clearing the streets will simply force the sex trade further underground.
