This week Florence City Council voted to name a street after Bobby Sands who died on hunger strike in 1981 fighting for political status. There was a discussion and when it came to a vote 33 city councillors out of 34 voted in favour of the street naming and there was just one abstention.

There were three other streets newly named after Oriana Fallaci, a well-known journalist and writer from Florence; Ilaria Alpi, a brave young journalist killed in an ambush in Mogadishu, Somalia; and world-renowned Italian film director Mario Monicelli.

Irish republican supporters hope that the move will encourage other municipalities to act and honour Bobby Sands and his comrades in similar ways.