Venice authorities on Thursday unveiled a pilot program to charge day-trippers 5 euros ($5.45) apiece to enter the fragile lagoon city on peak weekends next year in an effort to reduce crowds, encourage longer visits and improve the quality of life for residents. The rollout of the tourist “contribution” program came after Venice, a UNESCO World Heritage site, narrowly escaped being placed on the U.N. agency’s danger list earlier this year because of the threat that overtourism was having on its delicate ecosystem. Member states cited the proposed new entry fee in deciding to spare Venice from the list. FILE PHOTO: A view of St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro stressed Thursday that the fee is not a new tourist tax or an attempt t...
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A UNESCO committee has decided not to add Venice to the organisation's World Heritage List in Danger, disregarding a recommendation from experts and sparing the Italian government from an embarrassing verdict on the city's condition. "The World Heritage Committee ... has made the decision not to inscribe Venice and its Lagoon on the World Heritage List in Danger," UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, said in a statement as the committee met in Riyadh. FILE PHOTO: Tourists in Venice, Italy August 22, 2023. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said adding Venice to the list would have been an "undue move" not based on objective facts. "Venice, therefore, is not in danger," he said in a statement. Venice, known for its canals and cultural sites, has ...
Read MoreVenice plans to experiment with an admission fee of 5 euros ($5.35) for day trippers next year to try to manage the flow of tourists drawn to its historic canals, the city council said on Tuesday. The fee will be applied on a trial basis on 30 days next year, focusing mainly on spring bank holidays and summer weekends when tourism numbers are at their peak. All visitors over the age of 14 will have to pay it. The aim was to find "a new balance between the rights of those who live, study or work in Venice and those who visit the city," Venice tourism councillor Simone Venturini said. It is not a money-making move, he added, saying the fee would only cover the cost of administering the scheme. FILE PHOTO: Tourists walk during a new heatwave as temperatures are expected to reach ...
Read MoreUNESCO experts have recommended that Venice and its lagoon be added to its list of World Heritage in Danger as Italy is not doing enough to protect the city from the impact of climate change and mass tourism. UNESCO World Heritage Centre experts regularly review the state of the UN cultural agency's 1,157 World Heritage sites, and at a meeting in Riyadh in September, a committee of 21 UNESCO member states will review more than 200 sites and decide which to add to the danger list. For nearly 10 of these sites, the experts recommend that member states put them on the danger list, among which already are the historic centre of Odessa, Ukraine, the town of Timbuktu in Mali, and several sites in Syria, Iraq and Libya. FILE PHOTO: Tourists shelter from the sun in St. Mark's Square as t...
Read MoreThe waters in Venice's main canal turned fluorescent green on Sunday in the area near the Rialto bridge and authorities are seeking to trace the cause, Italy's fire department said. The governor of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, posted a photo of the green liquid that spread through the water near the arched Rialto Bridge. The patch was reported by residents. A gondola navigates along Venice's historical Grand Canal as a patch of phosphorescent green liquid spreads in it, Sunday, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Luigi Costantini) Images on social media show a bright patch of green in the canal along an embankment lined with restaurants. Zaia said that officials had requested that the police investigate to determine who was responsible. Environmental authorities were also testing the wat...
Read MoreScottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko is giving a platform to voices that have long been silenced at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, which opened Saturday, the first ever curated by an African, featuring a preponderance of work by Africans and the African diaspora. The 18th architectural Biennale, titled “The Laboratory of the Future,” explores decolonization and decarbonization, topics about which Africans have much to say, Lokko said, citing the long exploitation of the continent for both human and environmental resources. A view of "Coastal Imaginaries" installation at the Denmark pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) “The Black body was Europe’s first unit of energy,”...
Read MoreLast spring, for the first time in 500 years, the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco in Venice opened their doors to the public, revealing the new home of the Generali Group's The Human Safety Net Foundation (THSN) on the third floor of the iconic building, the Interior, Exhibition & Multimedia Design aspect of which was conceived by the Migliore+Servetto studio, under the artistic direction of Davide Rampello. The intervention by Migliore+Servetto – which includes the interior design of all the spaces in the building, the heart of the work being located on the third floor with a café, library and exhibition path – outlines an innovative and experimental approach aimed at generating sustainable and inclusive spaces, created "to share" and conceived in relation to visitors' beha...
Read MoreVenice is delaying plans to introduce an entry fee for visitors because the city council has not yet fully approved the new admissions process, a spokesman for Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on Friday. Tourism officials said in July that day-trippers would have to book their visit to the lagoon city online from Jan. 16 and pay between 3 and 10 euros ($3 and $10) for a pass in an effort to control crowd numbers. FILE PHOTO: Tourists ride on a gondola as the municipality prepares to charge them up to 10 Euros for entry into the lagoon city, in order to cut down the number of visitors, in Venice, Italy, September 5, 2021. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri But the mayor's spokesman said the city council had not yet approved the necessary regulations, meaning the start date would have to be put bac...
Read MoreStarting in January, Venice will oblige day-trippers to make reservations and pay a fee to visit the historic lagoon city, in a bid to better manage visitors who often far outnumber residents in the historic center, clogging narrow streets and heavily-used foot bridges crossing the canals. Venice officials on Friday unveiled new rules for day-trippers, which go into effect on Jan. 16, 2023. Tourists who choose not to stay overnight in hotels or other lodgings will have to sign up online for the day they plan to come and pay a fee. These range from 3 to 10 euros ($3.15 to $10.50) per person, depending on advance booking and whether it’s peak season or the city is very crowded. FILE PHOTO: A tourist takes a selfie in St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, Nov. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Luca...
Read MoreVenice’s Jewish ghetto is considered the first in Europe and one of the first in the world, and a new effort is underway to preserve its 16th-century synagogues for the Jews who have remained and tourists who pass through. For nearly two years, restorers have been peeling away paint and discovering the original foundations of three of the ghetto’s synagogues, which are considered the only Renaissance synagogues still in use, art historian David Landau said. Interiors of the 1528 Great German Schola Synagogue, of Ashkenazi rite, are seen in this picture taken in Venice, northern Italy, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. The Great German Schola is the first synagogue of the Venice Ghetto. (AP Photo/Chris Warde-Jones) Landau is spearheading the fundraising effort to restore the synagogues and...
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