Originally Posted by
bdemaria
In all my years of living in Venice and dealing w/bag sellers (either watching/assisting someone else or purchasing myself) I have never seen nor heard of such a fine being imposed. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I'm just saying there must be more to the story than a tourist being picked out at random and req'd to pay such a fine.
As for the sellers: arrest and exportation is the usual punishment if they are caught.
There is indeed such a fine now.
I do believe the article was about Lignano, not Jesolo.
Apparently this year there is a concept of "zero tolerance" towards selling of counterfeit articles- last year the fine was in place but not really enforced.
The article claimed this was the first person fined this year.
It is, however, in experience enforced very sporadically.
I would stay away from fake articles in any event.