I suppose this could be a transportation topic. When we arrived in Venice a few weeks ago imagine our surprise when we learned the vaporettos were on strike that day. There was not a water taxi to be found. There was a boat taking passengers to the Roma section of Venice. We got off there, bought a detailed map, and hauled our luggage over eight bridges to our hotel which was near the Zattere stop. How often does this happen? The hotel staff did not think it was unusual.
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
805 posts
One day strikes like that are fairly common in Italy and France in particular. When I was in Florence this year, all the museums were closed one day because of a strike. Remember that, unlike the US, the Italian government employs a much higher percentage of the populous and the people working in government jobs like that know that since firing them would be tantamount to political suicide, they can strike and be fairly certain that the state will give them most of what they want. See Alitalia as a classic example of this. Had it been in the US, it would have long since collapsed because it loses a lot of money but the Italian government chose to underwrite that debt to keep it alive.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32202 posts
Susan, it must be fairly common, as when I visited Venice last year the Vaporetti were on strike the day I arrived. A Manager (or whatever) took us as far as the Rialto Bridge, and I walked from there to my Hotel. Fortunately, I had packed a copy of Rick's Italy book with Venice map, so it was relatively easy to find my way around.