Venice Article

From what I read in this article and others is that Venetians talk the talk, but it never goes any further. It seems like the government and other officials can never get out of it's own way and make significant change. Here's hoping they finally make real change, but the cynic in me doubts it.

For a good read about life in Venice and all of its self inflicted struggles check out The City of Falling Angel's by John Berendt.

Alan, since you seem sincerely interested in Venice's conservation you can read better books. Isn't Berendt the idiot who wrote about a Mafia involvement in the 1996 Fenice fire?

Dario, "The City of Falling Angel's" by John Berendt was the book about the opera house fire. I read it and it was clearly meant to be a work of fiction althoug some of it was based on historical facts.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing the article. By the way, the New York Times is allowing free access to their coronavirus-related articles. I haven't been to Venice (yet!) and hope to go some time in the future.

Dario, the parts about the book that made me think of it was the chaos in some seemingly simple things like getting a permit to make renovations. I had read the book and laughed because our hotel owner in Venice told me similar stories when he talked about trying to do work on his hotel.

I'd have to reread the book to comment much about the mafia connection, but if I recall, the author didn't accuse the mafia but passed on comments made by other people suggesting a conspiracy.

Interesting article and great pictures. I can see the interest in diversifying the islands' economy to draw more permanent and temporary (e.g. student) residents, but I don't see how that will reduce the number of visitors once the COVID wraps are off. If closed hotels become student dorms or business incubators or resident apartments, that might raise prices for overnight stays, but in turn that could result in more day-trippers who spend so little while taking up so much space. Given the city's beauty, fame, and historical importance, I don't see how they can curb overtourism without enacting and enforcing really serious regulations, like quotas and airbnb bans and big entry taxes.

And enforcement has to be key -- I was amazed to learn from the article that Venice banned cruise ships from the Giudecca canal eight years ago, but they're still there because the ban isn't enforced. Must be more to that story.

getting a permit to make renovations.

All renovations involving buildings older than 150 years protected by the Ministry for Cultura Heritage require a project written by an architect with a specific CV and a 5 years degree. It adds costs and time to the procedure since these renovation projects must be approved by architects working in an understaffed office. Nothing strange in an Unesco city that's 1,000 years old.

It's a fight between owners that want to make money from Venice, Elton-style billionaires who want to build a swimming pool inside a 500 years old palazzo and public officers whose only job is blocking this way of thinking from changing Venice into a theme park.

Describing it as something "Chaotic that should be simple" confirms my opinion about the author and the superficiality of anglo-saxon writers when they look at the rest of the world. Renovating Venice buildings can't be simple and it must not be simple, in a perfect world It should be quick, but there are always other offices that get public funding. Unsurprisingly, politicians do not get re-elected funding offices that prevent citizens and corporations from doing what they want with their real estate.

was amazed to learn from the article that Venice banned cruise ships from the Giudecca canal eight years ago, but they're still there because the ban isn't enforced

Save your amazement, there is no ban to enforce. In 2012, Rome's Government gave Venice port authority the power to enforce a ban if and when The authority wanted to do it. They basically gave un-elected technicians the power to block one of Venice's main source of income. Given the lack of alternatives to the Giudecca Canal Port Authority decided not to use the new power, but - as many in Rome arguably hoped - to use it as a mean of pressure on local politicians who want more and more ships to arrive.

Ufkak's perfect world exists. Its called N. Korea. No tourism of any sort.( except the Commie party elite)

Given the choice, I suspect Venetians would opt for "overtourism" versus the idyllic condition of immutable preservation and a return to 15th/16th Century conditions. ( or enjoying the splendid isolation of N Korea)

We love Venice, it is unique and has such an interesting history, founded by refugees from the mainland during the 5thCentury when the Huns and later the Goths were marauding in the collapsing Western Roman Empire.
The Venetian Republic was a shining star when much of Western Europe was dark.
It survived until the French Revolution and Napoleon.

It has much to offer for history and art lovers. Also, it is unique and predictably not to be missed by those that tour.

Having been to Venice several times, I remember chatting with a resident, whose family originated in that fair city. He told us the city was declining in population, since it was expensive to live there. He didn't blame all the tourist for wanting to visit his city and said that tourism was important to keep Venice financially fluid. We agreed with him that if changes were made, that changes should not be revolutionary with a meat cleaver, but with a scalpel.

One trip we made involved a cruise and I can say that cruising in and out of the port past the main part of the city was amazing, still, I can see moving the cruise port to a location that removes the damages done by those ships.

I found this information about the city:
The resident population all over Venice has also been decreasing. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Venice declined overall by 0.2%, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85%.[1] But the population in the historic city alone is declining at a significantly faster rate: from about 120,000 in 1980 to about 60,000 in 2009.[2] Taken alone, the municipality's official figures would appear to confirm the widely held belief that Venice is shrinking: since 1952 when the number of residents in the "lagoon city" peaked at 218,991, the permanent registered population has diminished by more than 60% and steadily continues its decline. It has shrunk by a further 9% since the beginning of the century or an average of 1,000 people annually. [3]
The official resident population of the historic city of Venice shows an even more marked fall, from a peak of 174,808 in 1951 to 60,208 in 2008. But the real population of Venice includes many others who "inhabit" the city, albeit less officially. Excluding the numerous tourists and day-trippers who collectively make heavy demands on the city's infrastructure, other residents include people with secondary homes, commuting workers, students, and the steady flow of people who come to Venice to use its public administration offices.

I wonder if the author has ever visited Venice. “Venice is composed of two islands, the island known as the fish and the Giudecca”.
Only two islands yet some 400 bridges .....

Another article with similar themes. What caught my attention with this one is the obvious disconnect between residents and politicians. Residents say more needs to be done and politicians patting themselves on the back that they're doing a lot. Sounds like most cities in the world.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venice-covid-tourism-economy-1.5636741

I sometimes get the impression that the only thing bigger than Venice's tourism industry is the work of journalists churning out yet another tedious article complaining about Venice's tourism industry.

Venice today is a theme park with a small residential population. Venice might have more history than Gardaland, but it's mostly still a theme park all the same. And like other theme parks, what would happen if the tourists left? For the centre - gentle decay into nothing, with a few parts preserved as second or third homes for government appartchiks and the uber rich.

Incidentally, I love Venice and really it isn't as crowded or "overrun" as often claimed by the whingers: all you need do is avoid certain parts during certain times of the day, otherwise most of the islands are fairly crowd-free. Of course, there are aspects where one wishes the Italians might finally get a grip and improve things; but I wouldn't hold out much hope and so it's best just for us visitors to adapt.

With only abut 60,000 actual residents, its no surprise that politicians do what the big money businesses want, instead of what the residents want.