Venice has banned the opening of new low-cost souvenir shops. It is the next step in the fight against mass tourism.
Plastic gondolas for a euro, fridge magnets ‘made in China’ or fake carnival masks, the municipality of Venice wants to get rid of them. The Councilor for Commerce, Sebastiano Costalonga, has submitted a proposal banning the opening of new shops with cheap odds and ends in the historic center of the northern Italian city. The same ban also applies to snack machines and do-it-yourself laundromats.
According to the alderman, it is an attempt to protect the identity of the city. “Besides the stones, we also have to protect the people of Venice,” Costalonga told the local newspaper Corriere del Veneto† “Commerce has adapted to mass tourism and is radically changing the city.”
The councilor wants to give priority to shops that offer something to the few remaining Venetians, such as butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers or that uphold the handicraft tradition of Venice. “I don’t expect to see a traditional goldsmith on the site of an empty souvenir shop next week,” Gianni de Checchi, spokesman for the local artisans, told a reporter for La Republica† “It is a question of costs, but the measure can play a role in tempering rents.”
Thrift Stores
Due to the lack of tourists during the pandemic, the number of junk shops has already fallen drastically in the past two years, many retail properties are empty in Venice. According to the alderman, this is a good time to introduce this measure. “The ban could be a turning point for Venice.”
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Commerce has adapted to mass tourism and thus radically changes the city
In addition to a stop at new stores, rules are imposed on existing stores. For example, they may not have outdoor lighting that differs too much from street lighting, no items may be offered outside the store and the shop windows may not differ too much from traditional stores. Years ago, fast food restaurants were banned in Venice.
mass tourism
Venice has been struggling with mass tourism for years. In 2019, the busiest year on record, 23 million tourists squeezed through the narrow streets of the city. Reason why more and more Venetians leave the city. In the 1950s, about 150,000 people still lived in the city, now only a little more than a third of them remain.
As a result of the overkill of tourism, UNESCO threatened to put Venice on the list of endangered world heritage.
In the fight against ‘clumsy’ tourism, a drastic measure was taken in Venice in 2018: a ban on sitting and lying on the street:
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