No More Canals

Venice off limits to tourists?

If you’ve ever been to Piazza San Marco in Venice, you'll know that tourists are as common as pigeons. And while tourists may be advised to stay away from feeding them, there is now a new proposal to make the tourists stay away altogether.

The authorities in the Italian city are now saying that Venetians could “no longer tolerate the discomforts” of mass tourism. If the proposal succeeds, only the people who have got hotel reservations will be able to visit – and not the hordes of people who arrive for the day to see spots such as the Bridge of Sighs or the Grand Canal.

“There’s a need to study a project where there is a cap on the number of visitors,” Enrico Mingardi, the head of public transportation in Venice told the newspaper La Nuova Venezia.  “If you have a booking, you can come in; if not, you can’t.”

The amount of tourists – roughly 100,000 per day in the summer – has resulted in overcrowding, excessive rubbish and, apparently, destruction of monuments. Mingardi does not say how these tourists will likely be turned away or how the system would work, and although the idea of limiting tourists has been discussed on and off for the last 20 or 30 years, a spokeswoman for the Italian State Tourist Board was still critical. 

“It's always proved very controversial because it goes against the democratic principle that anyone should be able to come to Venice. "Venice is not just St Mark’s Square – there are areas off the beaten track you can find fewer people… such as the old Jewish ghetto or the island opposite St Mark’s Square; they are very pleasant. You can explore the old churches and the old docklands; all those areas off the square are much quieter.”