The mayor of a northern Italian town announced a ban on shops selling kebabs and sandwiches, saying he objected to their smell and complaining they were not part of Italian tradition.

Massimo Botocci, a member of the populist Northern League and the mayor of Cittadella, near Padua, said such shops were banned from the centre of the medieval walled city.

This kind of food production was “not suited to our historic centre (because of) the way in which the foods are eaten, the smell they give off...”, said Bitocci, citing health and sanitation regulations.

“If someone wants to eat a kebab, he can do it at home or outside of the historic centre,” he added.

“They aren’t part of our tradition.”

Botocci, who also sits as a deputy for the Northern League, made headlines in 2009 when he introduced measures against beggars and street sellers as well as parking restrictions for caravans to dissuade travelling people.

He has also proposed mandatory public service for under-16s found drinking alcohol.