L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 8 FRANCESCA BEZZONE A couple of w eeks ago, we learnt about Florence, right on these pages, right off the pen - well, key- board - or yours truly. Today, is Venice to conquer the headlines for the same reasons. A short recap for those among you who mis s ed our las t edition: the mayor of Florence implemented a new regulation forbidding loi- tering and eating in four central streets of the city, particularly popular among tourists. Their boisterous and, at times, filthy presence bothered residents and local bus ines s es , w ho often found themselves navigating ankle deep in rubbish or incapac- itated to enter their own homes and shops because of visitors sit- ting around on their doorstep, eating their traditional lampre- dotto s andw iches aw ay. O f course, hefty fines have been put into place. Here we are, today, telling the story of a similar decision taken recently by Venice's own mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, who suggested to introduce a 580 USD fine for people sitting down in undesig- nated areas - think of a church's stairs, for instance, or the steps of a doorway. Sitting around where you shouldn't is already forbidden in some part of the city, namely Saint Mark's Square and the Rialto Bridge, two among the hottest tourist spots in the Serenissima, but the suggested regulation would extend, it is understood, the same to the rest of the city cen- tre. Just as in the case of Flo- rence, the initiative doesn't orig- inate from local dislike for tourists, nor from a desire to keep the beauties of Venice for the eyes of its inhabitants only. Rather, it springs from the increasingly worrying behavior of many visitors and the negative side effects of over tourism. To say the truth, this is only the last of a series of initiatives running under the hashtag #EnjoyRespectVenezia, all aim- ing to protect the city from exploitation, pollution and bad behavior. For instance, tourists are asked to keep the right when strolling around, not to linger on bridges and to refrain from using bicycles; they can't walk around wearing swimwear nor can they feed pigeons to take photos and selfies. Of course, graffiti and lit- tering are forbidden, as it is leav- ing padlocks on monuments, a tradition inaugurated years ago, especially on the Ponte dell'Ac- cademia, where lovers like to leave a memento of their union in one of the world's most romantic cities. As an incise, Ponte Milvio, in Roma, has the same problem. In May, the decision to forbid specific areas to tourists during the month's first busy weekend was taken to safeguard the priva- cy and comfort of residents, con- cerned by issues caused to their everyday's life and work by the massive presence of visitors in their calli. Is it all the tourists' fault, then? Well, yes and no. If, in Flo- rence, people's behavior is ulti- mately the real issue, Venice has to deal with more problems, because of its very nature and architectural structure: to put it simply, a place built on water, where roads and alleys are tiny, has a lot more issues handling large amount of people visiting than a traditionally organized town. Venice cannot deal with the sheer amount of people com- ing to see it, for the very reasons they do go to see it: its unique- ness. Think about it, the historical centre of Venice has a population of about 54.000 people but, each year, more than 30 million tourists travel to see it: according to specialists, this is too much, and it's easy to see why, espe- cially if you know the town. Its alleys are picturesque and beauti- ful, but narrow, its shops are filled to the brim, but are often small, because housed in original architecture belonging to a time when mass tourism didn't exist. Indeed, locals have been saying that living in Venice has not only become harder, but also more expensive, because many grocery shops, bookstores, bakeries - the living commercial heart of any local community - have been closing down to leave space to souvenir sellers. It's easy to see, really. The need to better control visitors' afflux to Venice is real and it is at the core of the #EnjoyRe- spectVenezia movement, which doesn't seek punishment for tourists, but rather wants to make sure the city remains what it is - special, unique, with a true soul and personality - for many, many centuries to come. Beside the unavoidable and, quite honestly, understandable rules needed to put a limit to peo- ple's misbehavior, it is essential to make sure tourism, which is an enormous Venetian asset, remains so, without slowly but steadily killing the city's own local community. Because what is a place without its inhabitants, its corner stores and delis, its lit- tle cafés filled with elderly peo- ple reading the newspaper and its butcher and green grocer? What would it be, without grannies' homes and laundry drying at the windows? It'd be only the sad, delusion- al ghost of itself. An imitation of reality, even if the monuments remained real. Without its com- munity - a community tired of ruthless tourism and who's becoming unable to cope with the rising prices of Venice's city centre - a place dies, even if 30 million people crowd its tiny alleys on any given year, even if the city coffers get fatter and everything looks perfect. With- out its people, a city is destined to oblivion. It is also in this optic Brug- naro's new rules - still to be implemented, mind - should be considered: not as a way to hin- der tourism, but as a means to ensure the continuity of Venice's own traditional life. Only with its own people in the streets, run- ning its shops and buying its bread, we can hope to keep on experiencing the timeless charm and enchanting soul of the city for many centuries to come. So, if the problem is limiting access to the centre to allow locals to live their lives in freedom, let's do it if you ask me. Better know- ing that our great grandchildren will be able to experience Venice in 100 years, rather than having millions of people today, but only the shell of a world jewel tomorrow. Sitting around in Venice like this may soon be illegal everywhere in the city © Małgorzata Paulina Pakuła | Dreamstime.com NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Venice locks up its gates to tourists: is this really the right solution?

• Cover