Venice live blog: Iconic Italian city to segregate tourists and locals this weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.Welcome to Venice on what authorities have predicted will be the busiest day of the year for tourists. Possibly one of its most controversial days, too – because they’re planning to segregate locals and tourists in order to divert footfall where possible.
The “urgent measures” have been decreed by mayor Luigi Brugnaro in the wake of a packed Easter weekend which drew local ire when vaporetti (waterbuses) were close to unusable and the main streets were unbearably full.
The measures work on the basis that the vast majority of visitors want to visit just two places in Venice: Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge. Checkpoints will be set up at the two main entrances to the city: Piazzale Roma (the bus terminal) and the Santa Lucia train station. Only locals and those carrying a Carta Venezia (for frequent visitors) will be allowed along the main thoroughfares; everyone else will be diverted along less direct routes.
So is this the day Venice officially turns into a theme park? The Independent’s travel editor, Julia Buckley, is in town – and as a regular visitor in possession of a Carta Venezia, she’s going to experience both sides of the divide.
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Other measures include rerouting boats full of daytrippers that usually stop at Riva degli Schiavoni in San Marco to Fondamente Nuove in Cannaregio, which is further away from the city centre.
Those driving may need a parking reservation or risk being redirected away from the centre, and local police will be keeping an eye on the main car park; once full, they may limit the number of cars they allow over the bridge from the mainland.
“Our goal is to inform those who want to come to the city that in the coming days there could be an extraordinary influx of people, making it difficult to visit,” said the mayor in a statement.
“All tourists know that, if they respect the city, they are welcome. At the same time, however, we have the task of safeguarding Venice, and this is why we have adopted measures based on what is permitted by current regulation.”
He added that this weekend was an opportunity to “experiment with a new tourism management system”.
Suddenly came up against a veritable river of people flowing towards me. Here it is, I thought, the flood of tourists. And how well dressed they all are!Then I realised a performance at the Fenice had just finished and they were pouring out of the opera in their glad rags.
Piazza San Marco, one of two places every tourist wants to make it to in Venice. Today, it's busy - not horrendously so but it's certainly awash with people taking selfies and what look like influencers done up in their best clothes, doing a follow-me-style pose as the orchestra at Florian plays on.
The main square isn't too bad, but then I turn around the back of the campanile (belltower) and see a long queue of people waiting to go up to the top (don't bother guys! The view's better from San Giorgio Maggiore across the water).
Piazza San Marco - busy but not quite as bad as expected. Did the warnings to stay away work?
The Riva degli Schiavoni - the main waterfront - is often the stuff of nightmares and today is no different. Mass of people blocking the Bridge of Sighs? Check. Groups sitting on the edge of the water by the gondolas, looking towards the Lido? Check. Impossible to walk along the waterfront and across the bridges without wanting to do violence to someone stopping right in front of you? Check.
This isn't the stuff of the photos and videos that go viral, but it's pretty bad. Glad I won't be here for the rest of the bank holiday weekend.
Back at the airport now, which is deserted and my plane is half full. There's a lot to think about from today - I'll add some final thoughts and photos once I get to Heathrow.
Just one block from the fray, the square outside San Zaccaria is deserted apart from me and a busker
It doesn't help that there have been three cruise ships in town today
Arrivederci Venezia, we’re back at Heathrow.
Before I sum up how it’s gone today, here’s the opinion of Valeria Duflot from Venezia Autentica, a responsible tourism initiative in the city. I asked her: do you approve of the gates?
“There is a need to do something to make Venice more liveable at peak events and season, so we salute the fact that the administration tries something. However, we're sceptical about the outcome of the proposed solution, if it should become a habit, for two main reasons.
The first one is that if all tourists are redirected via the same path, we're afraid the area they pass trough might end up with the same fate as what are currently the more trafficked areas of the city, such as Strada Nuova for example, and become invaded by cheap souvenir stores and restaurants within a few years.
Also, a poll of our followers showed that many regular visitors could take offence at the measures and refuse to come back to Venice. Knowing the importance of tourists who pay attention to where they spend their time and money for the local economy and therefore community, if many of them stopped coming, this measure could severely backlash and negatively impact the future of the Venetians.
We'd rather suggest to find a way to incentivise responsible visits to Venice and manage day-trippers (who are the real problem) in a more efficient way.”
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