At the exit of the Santa Lucia station, which connects Venice with the tracks of the rest of the Italian peninsula, a legion of men and women in colorful bibs point out that the city of canals has just become a unique case in world: it is the first to charge – 5 euros, at the moment – ??to tourists who want to walk the streets without having booked a hotel.
A week has passed since Venice launched its famous access toll, and there has been no revolt. “Ma’am, can you show me your QR code?” asks a municipal employee holding up his mobile phone. “We are not imposing fines. At the moment everyone collaborates, or disguises it well”, he explains, while scanning code after code.
Three different queues form between the steps of the station and the waters of the Grand Canal. The first, for tourists, those who have to pay the 5 euros or who have a hotel reservation, so it is not necessary because they have already paid the tourist tax. The second, for the exempt, among friends and relatives of Venetians, residents of the Veneto region or workers. And the third, for those who are behind or denied with technology, who can buy it directly over the counter.
“If this happened in Athens, a revolution would break out”, comments the Greek Iorgos, who has just paid 15 euros to pay for tickets to Venice for himself, his wife and his eldest son. The little one, since he is under 14, passes for free. “It’s crazy to pay to enter the city. Have we returned to the Middle Ages?”, he asks.
An Indiana family has it rougher. They are eight, therefore, 40 euros. Patty, the matriarch, who was unaware of the Venetian experiment, is furious. “I don’t think we should be taxed to go down the street. They can do it here because we have no choice but to pay, we are surrounded by water”, he says, pointing to the magnificent bridge of the Barefoot.
“I’m just saying that I hope our money goes to the people of Venice and not to the Pope”, opines a Californian, who reasons that “since the Pope lives in Italy, don’t be surprised if he keeps the money”. “Since I have paid, I hope they treat me well”, he warns. There are all kinds of reactions to the Venetian box office. There is the applied tourist, the one who runs, pushing the whole family, to prove to the yellow jacket authority that he has paid correctly before being questioned. Others – especially groups of young Italians – speed up to avoid the guards. If caught, they can face up to a 300 euro fine. A couple fights with the web while their child cries inconsolably rolling on the floor.
“99% of Venetians are against the entrance ticket”, says Matteo Secchi, founder of Venessia.com, a citizens’ association famous for its original actions against mass tourism. The last thing they have done is to place loudspeakers in different parts of the city to issue warnings – false – to tourists that if they are not satisfied with Venice they can ask for a refund. “We feel like monkeys in a zoo. We are against the ticket because Venice is a city, not a theme park. This is not Disneyland”, he emphasizes.
In the first week of application of the ticket – this 2024 it works in 29 peak tourist days – Venice has not managed to reduce the number of tourists, since between 15,000 and 23,000 people have paid the 5 euros toll every day. In the end, the figure, symbolic, does not quite dissuade anyone from checking its wonders first hand, and it is possible that the municipal officials of the City Council decide to increase it after having studied it calmly for a few months. “We are happy with how it is going because we are more interested in the fact that it worked. It is clear that we did not think of solving the problem of mass tourism in a few days, we wanted to see if the system could hold”, defends the head of the Budget of the City of Venice, Michele Zuin. “What they should do – says Marco Gasparinetti, councilor of the opposition – is to put a limit on the number of tickets available, because our physical space does not allow us to receive so many visitors”, he says.
Although around 20,000 people pay the five-euro ticket every day, another 50,000 guests have hotel reservations. In addition to those of the Veneto region. Therefore, tourists already far outnumber the barely 49,000 inhabitants left in Venice, a city that has lost 14,000 residents in 20 years and is destined to die if it doesn’t change course. In fact, the entrance ticket is the response to Unesco’s threats to place Venice on the black list of endangered human heritage. Some 1,900 apartments are about to be released, and Gasparinetti’s biggest fear is that more investors will buy them to turn them into more tourist apartments.
At four in the afternoon, the agents leave because the time to check the QR codes is over. Then there are only the pockets of the men who offer water taxi transfers to the hotels. “Minimum 70 euros for two people”, they report. It is another type of toll.
