Venice: between fairytale and nightmare

“There is a glorious City in the Sea.
The Sea is in the broad, the narrow streets,
Ebbing and flowing; and the salt sea-weed
Clings to the marble of her palaces.
No track of men, no footsteps to and fro,
Lead to her gates. The path lies o’er the Sea,
Invisible; and from the land we went,
As to a floating City – steering in,
And gliding up her streets as in a dream…”

Samuel Rogers “Italy”, Poem 1815

Everyone knows Venice as one of the most beautiful, oldest, and artistic cities in Italy. Rich in architectural beauties, magic atmosphere and lots of history and culture.

It is located in Veneto, an Italian north region, and according to the region’s local news TGR Veneto 2019 boasts of a tourism rate of 12 million visitors a year, second only to the capital Rome. It’s certain that tourists all over the world love Venice, but is the same also for the locals?

The city has 261.905 inhabitants (ISTAT 2017) but most of them are complaining about the lifestyle there. In the last years it has registered a population drop of 50,000 just in the historic center. The reasons are varied.

Elena P. is a young woman that is born in Venice, she attended a linguistic high school in the very city center and remembers wonderful time about her childhood spent in the main narrow street of the city, called “calli”.

But now the situation is totally different.

“Unfortunately, last year I needed hospital, because I broke my leg during housekeeping at home and I was alone, so I decided to call the emergency number 118 and ask for help” and she continued “but I had to wait a really long time because it is difficult to reach the city center in Venice, in particular if also a ship/gondola is needed”. The distance to the hospital and the difficult route to reach it is one of the biggest problems of the inhabitants but not the only one and bring Elena to move somewhere else.

In general places are bad connected because of the city structure and the cost. I tested this on my skin, in fact when I went there by train, I had to take a bus to reach the core, but there were few of them and were overcrowded. I have never seen as many tourists as there.  

Also, Milan is quite a tourist city, but Venice is that small and the streets are so narrow that becomes immediately crowded and suffocating. 

Elena tells that is father is thinking about moving in another city, maybe next to Venice, because the taxes and the costs there have become too expensive and unlivable. With a middle salary is almost impossible to get through the month, especially now with the increase of gas costs. 

Elena’s father is fighting everyday against that but is losing. Supermarket and shops are difficult to reach and in addition to that, now, are becoming more expensive. Just heiress can afford all the costs to live in a such artistic city.

Venice was proclaimed city-museum and humanity fortune, for this reason it should more protected. Tourists are both positive and negative for the city. They let economy grow and make advertisement to this city, but on the other side they can be bothering for inhabitants that cannot have quite and lose their advantages, such as skip queue or have discounts. Inhabitants are now like tourists in their own city, said Elena that feel properly in this way. 

Elena is just one of 261.905 venetians that is in love with her city’s bridges, streets, drains and colors, but that is also unhappy with its bad administration and has to leave because of it.