Venice has just been getting killed by tourists who treat it like a theme park, and residents are fleeing in droves. This is what it was like last Sunday:
http://nuovavenezia.gelocal.it/venez...8?ref=search#1
And any other day during high season, which is most of the year:
http://nuovavenezia.gelocal.it/venez...375?ref=search
http://nuovavenezia.gelocal.it/venez...dio-1.15252115
Last year UNESCO told Venice that if it doesn't do something to rein in the tourism it will lose its status as a world heritage site. This would be a big thing. They just named the hills where they grow the grapes to make prosecco a UNESCO site, so for Venice not to be one would be a real slap in the face.
Venice was forced to submit a plan to UNESCO for consideration at its meeting this June 27th. The plan was drafted and much of it approved (some is still under debate), and all or most of it will be submitted to UNESCO. Much of it centers around Piazza San Marco. I've actually seen tourists bring portable stoves and make fires and start cooking shish-kabob in the middle of the Plaza. People lie on the of the stairs of the Basilica and eat take out food. Venice hired 100 new policemen to be in Piazza San Marco starting in June, to enforce better tourists behaviors.
It's a complex, far reaching plan, but here are the basic bones of it.
1. Tassa di sbarco e tornelli in piazza San Marco per proteggere Venezia dal turismo di massa e dare una risposta concreta all'Unesco. "A tax to get into Venice, and turnstiles to get into San Marco Square to protect Venice from mass tourism will give a concrete response to UNESCO."
The most important measure they feel is the new tax or ticket you will have to purchase to get into Venice. There already is a city tax that you pay when you stay in a hotel. Making tourists pay a tax to get into the city is aimed at making day-trippers pay too, and will apply whether you get to Venice by train, cruise ship, vaporetto, water taxi, or any other means. The tax might not always be in effect, but may just kick in on days when there are more than 100,000 visitors. It's not clear to me. The size of the tax which they are calling a "landing fee," will vary day to day, based upon how many tourists are trying to get in.
2. Anche i costi dei vaporetti potrebbero aumentare, con gli stessi parametri, in canal Grande. E poi si pensa di rendere obbligatoria la prenotazione dei servizi. "Also increase the tourist fare for the vaporetto on the Grand Canal when the number of visitors reaches a certain number. They are thinking of requiring tourists to make a reservation to use it." During the summer time the vaporetti are so crowded that local residents have no way to get around and live their day to day life, like shopping, taking kids to school, etc.
3. La seconda novità riguarderebbe l'accesso a piazza San Marco, il punto più turistico in assoluto. In questo caso si parla di limitare gli ingressi, anche ricorrendo ai tornelli. "The second new thing regards access to Piazza San Marco, the absolute most touristic place. In this case the talk is to limit entrance, even requiring turnstiles." They are talking about experimenting with this in the summer, but there are some legal hurdles.
Uno dei provvedimenti più attesi è sicuramente la limitazione degli accessi nell’area marciana nelle giornate da “bollino rosso”. Prevista per ora solo una sperimentazione. Soluzione che non arriverà a breve termine. "The most anticipated change is securing a limitation on the number of people who have access to the San Marco area on red days (when it is already crowded). This will be previewed as an experiment, the solution won't arrive in the short term.
4. Modifiche ipotizzate anche per i terminal dei Gran Turismo, che vanno spostati da San Marco e ricollocati in aree decentrate come Sant’Elena, Castello, Fondamente Nuove. "Move the Grand Tourist Terminal from San Marco to outlying areas like Sant'Elena, Castello, Fondamente Nuove." Tourists coming from Chioggia, from the parking lot, and from the sea shore, land at San Marco. They are going to make them land in other parts of the city.
5. Mentre resta in piedi l'iter per la delibera contro le aperture di nuove attività take away. Si è persa un’occasione», dicono, «È un provvedimento parziale, che colpisce solo una parte del fenomeno. "Not allowing any more take out food places to open. This one didn't go through, too many protested saying it is only a partial solution. This is a lost opportunity." This is a big problem. There are so many bridges to cross in Venice. Sometimes the bridges are completely blocked by tourists sitting on the steps eating sandwiches, pizza, shish kabob, etc, that you can't cross the bridges without practically stepping on them.
6. Altre soluzioni: la Ztl pedonale (ma serve una modifica legislativa), la polizia turistica (100 agenti ausiliari a contratto stagionale in arrivo), ma soprattutto l'alternativa al canale della Giudecca per le grandi navi. "Other solutions, a pedestrian ZTL, or making it prohibited to allow pedestrian tourists to enter certain parts of the city," so the residents can have their neighborhoods back. Seasonally hiring 100 tourist police to police the tourists around San Marco Piazza (already done). Over everything, finding an alternative to the Giudecca Canal for cruise ships coming into Venice.
7. The debate about these changes has been accelerated because the deadline to submit the changes to UNESCO is next Thursday, and by the pressure exerted by public opinion.
8. Affittanze. La prossima settimana dovrebbe essere approvata dal Consiglio la delibera che chiede alla Regione di modificare la Legge sul turismo che prevede oggi un cambio d’uso “automatico” da residenza a turismo. Allo studio e in giunta giovedì anche un nuovo regolamento che preveda norme più rigide per i cambi d’uso. Dovranno sempre passare per la giunta e non dovranno essere automatici. "Rentals. Next week the Counsel should approve modification of the laws concerning converting apartments to tourist rentals (AirBnb, etc.), which right now you can do automatically. They expect new rigid standards to be approved next Thursday. The owner of the apartment will have to get approval from a Board, it will no longer be automatic." Reeling in AirBnb in Italy is long, long overdue.
9. La richiesta che viene dalle isole è anche quella di limitare i passaggi dei mezzi troppo grandi e dotati di megafono. "The request from the islands is also to limit large boats that use megaphones." These boats really disturb the peace by using loudspeakers to point out significant sites.
10. Proposta delle categorie è quella di ripristinare il collegamento per il rio delle Galeazze, attraverso l’Arsenale. Si eviterebbe il periplo di migliaia di motoscafi (taxi e Actv) per Sant’Elena. "Open a link from Rio delle Galeazze that crosses Arsenale so that thousands of water taxis and vaporetti don't have to drive by Sant'Elena." That's the most peaceful neighborhood in Castello, where many residents live.
11. Navi. Ministero, Porto e Comune sembrano decisi a portare avanti il progetto del Vittorio Emanuele. "Cruise ships. The port and commune seems to have decided to go ahead with the project Vittorio Emanuele." This is basically a project to keep cruise ships from getting anywhere near San Marco or using the Giudecca Canal.
12. Più difficile intervenire sul numero dei giornalieri, in continuo aumento. Nuovo assalto previsto per i ponti del 25 aprile del 1 maggio, dopo quello di Pasqua. Situazione ormai ad alto rischio. "The number of days when it is too difficult to intervene continues to increase. A new assault on the bridges of Venice is predicted for April 25th (San Marco day,) May 1st, and after Easter. By now the situation in Venice is at high risk.
http://www.veneziatoday.it/cronaca/s...17-unesco.html
http://nuova Venezia.gelocal.it/vene...375?ref=search