With Italy set to lift some of its COVID-19 restrictions, allowing shops to reopen and sanctioning movement within its distinct regions, on May 18, the cultural nexus that is the ancient maritime city of Venice finds itself facing something of an identity crisis.
Since the country was locked down on March 10, the City of Canals that's famously faced massive overtourism dilemmas for years now, largely owing to an ongoing influx of enormous cruise ships, has stood all but deserted in a fashion never before seen in its long history.
Local discontent has steadily grown regarding the ways in which tourism has overtaken the soul of the city, with one complaint being that demand for visitor accommodations has driven out most of Venice's actual residents. Its population today is just over 52,000, less than one-third of the 175,000 who called the city home following World War II.
After February 25, when Venice was forced to cancel its Carnival celebrations for the first time ever as the surrounding Veneto region grew into a viral hotspot, the absence of tourists made it glaringly obvious just how profoundly Venice residents are now in the minority.
"The virus shows just how tourism has massacred the population," Matteo Secchi, head of the tourism group, Venessia, told CNN. "When the city locked down and it was just Venetians here, you could see how few we really are."
After two months in lockdown, while its prized canals cleared of pollution, and the normally-packed historic center sat soberingly silent and still, many Venetians have come to contemplate now wiping the slate clean, so to speak. Some are proposing that the post-pandemic era is an opportunity to start anew and allow Venetians to reclaim their heritage and redefine the role of tourism in the city.
"This allows us to rethink life in the historic center," Venice's Mayor Luigi Brugnaro during a media address, given earlier this week in from of St. Mark's Basilica, Fox Business reported. He's in favor of attracting more full-time residents to the city center, including students, scientists and artisans, and scaling back tourism to do away with the "hit-and-run" dynamic that has thus far threatened the city's integrity in more ways than one.
Brugnaro envisioned Venice re-emerging from its COVID-19 lockdown and, instead of returning to its former frantic pace, getting back to its roots. "Venice is a slow city," he said. "The slowness of Venice is the beauty of Venice."
Rodolfo Bevilacqua, owner of the single manufacturer still in operation on the Grand Canal-which produces luxury textiles that are bought by such famed fashion-houses as Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino-reflected, "To relaunch, Venice must return to its past. You cannot, and I will use a heavy term, profane it daily."
It would be a tough decision to pull the plug on mass tourism in favor of a more sustainable model, given that the industry-and the cruise ship terminal, in particular-provides thousands of jobs and up to $2.5 billion to the local economy. Upwards of 30 million tourists from around the globe arrive, along with their travel dollars in Venice annually.
Yet, it was already becoming clear that things could not continue as they had been, especially after massive flooding last year threatened the already delicate ecological and structural systems.
Melissa Conn, director of the Venice office of cultural heritage group 'Save Venice', is part of existing efforts to create a more sustainable tourism model, and actively preserve the city's historic and cultural treasures. "What will follow will be slow tourism, not mass tourism anymore," she asserted. "We are confident that we can rebuild, reestablish and rethink Venice, concentrating on helping the city withstand the elements and tourism."
The consensus among the mayor and tourism officials is that it could be at least a year before Venice again sees any significant volume of tourists, which means that residents and authorities will have some time to determine next steps. But, a year without tourism also means the loss of many jobs and that plenty of tourist-trap-type businesses will go under. In their place, civic groups are hoping that more sustainable businesses and more traditional Venetian trades may crop up.
"We feel more than ever that this is the moment," declared Conn, whose organization is currently working on between 30 and 40 projects, prompted by 2019's historic floods. "Saving Venice is a very particular mission, but we are on a roll right now."
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
