Rome ? Smokers in Italy took their last puffs in smoky bars and trattorias Sunday, hours before the start of one of Europe’s toughest laws against smoking in public places.

The outdoors, private homes, and restaurants and bars with ventilated smoking rooms are the only places spared from the anti-smoking law. Enforcement begins at 12:01 a.m. today, when many bars and clubs still will be serving customers.

In a restaurant near Viterbo, north of Rome, a dozen cigar aficionados reserved a table for a farewell dinner, promising to puff away on cigars between courses before the clock struck midnight, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

“In the end we’ll get used to not smoking in restaurants or bars, just like we’ve already had to do, for example, in trains and planes,” said Francesca Cola, 38, smoking a cigarette as she sat outside a cafe in Rome.

Her annoyance, however, was plain.

“I think this is excessive zeal against smokers. It’s a witch hunt,” she said, adding a pledge to throw more dinner parties and eat out less frequently.

The law, which was championed by Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia, a physician, bans smoking on public transportation and in hospitals, cinemas and schools.

Smokers will face fines from $36 to $363 if caught lighting up where they should not. Owners of premises who allow smoking face fines as high as $2,904.

In a country where restaurant diners rarely ask if drifting smoke is bothersome to others and doctors and visitors puff away in hospital corridors, about 26 percent of people smoke, according to the Health Ministry figures.

About 10 percent of Italian restaurants have separate smoking areas, according to restaurant lobbyists.