Why Nobody Lives in Venice

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Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos and Hannah Woolsey
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.

[cix-buhl]

I've lived in Venice all my life. It's not that bad. It has its problems, but there are plenty of pros too. It's one of the safest city in Italy, violent crimes are almost nonexistent and, since there are no cars, kids can go out freely starting from a young age.
Plus, we all kind of know each other and there is a strong sense of community.

[MartijnterHaar]

"We don't want to become the next Venice": the warning heard in the city councils of many historical European cities. It is not just tourism, but also expats, who often benefit from tax exemptions, that drive out low and middle incomes locals.

[soundscape]

It's sinking, many buildings are crumbling and it suffers from overtourism.

[OverlySarcasticProductions]

I visited Italy late last year, and when I got to Padua, I thought to myself "Ah, yes, this is where all the Venetians went. If I were a Venetian, I'd have moved here too."
-B

[mind-of-neo]

If anyone is wondering, They implanted massive shafts of wood upright into the ground, placing enough of them close together in a series that a solid ground foundation was formed; the water that saturated the area actually served to help strengthen the wooden pillars, due to petrification.

[guyinvenice]

I live in the historic centre and, yes, no denying there are problems, but we don't help the situation by exaggerating those problems either. Venice isn't astonishingly expensive, despite landlord villainy - it's way less unaffordable than Milan, say, though with lower incomes; and I've never had a problem with 'day-to-day shopping' on the island, goodness me there's a supermarket every two minutes, nevermind traditional fruttivendoli.

It's also worth noting that a lot of students don't show up in official population statistics in Italy because it's fiendishly bureaucratic to change your official residence. I know mostly students and post-student artists etc, and practically the only official Venetian residents among us are the foreigners - like me! Venice is a younger city (and more populous) than appears in the records.

Like I say, not trying to deny the problems. But there's a certain fatalism that sets in, IMO somewhat present in this video too, that can make eminently solveable problems appear unsolveable. AirBNB restrictions have already started in the EU (specifically Barcelona), just to name one idea. The Mose flood barrier has already, virtually overnight, drastically alleviated the 'acqua alta' problem that was threatening the city. But if we fall into fatalism there's a chance we end up doing nothing where we could do something, and this is especially true of outsiders, in particular the national and EU governments. It's worth pointing out that it wasn't the local government that banned the cruise ships, but the culture minister in the Draghi administration, going over the heads of rather, er, fiscally-minded Venetian government officials. We need more of that, and that'll take a change of narrative.

Venice remains an alive city, it does, it's not just an older dirtier version of the Vegas thing. During the pandemic locals did start to consider the possibility of a life less touristic, and action is actually possible. The first step is believing it is.

[PLuMUK]

It's not just cities like Venice. Some years ago I used to do my shopping in Stratford-upon-Avon. It was pleasant; a supermarket, a weekly market, and plenty of independent shops right in the centre meant that we could do our weekly shop, and go to a variety of places for a coffee before returning home. Then tourist numbers began to increase hugely. Pavements became crowded, parking became harder, and soon the independent shops that we used began closing down, or moving to an out-of-town site. The supermarket closed. The small department stores closed. Eventually, there was no point going into the town as everything was geared toward the tourists. It has been years since my last visit. When the choice was an out-of-town site, and the much reduced in size weekly market, I decided there was no point going there as I could visit lookalike centres nearer home.

The main difference is that unlike Venice, Stratford-upon-Avon attracted middle and upper income residents, and has increased its population by building lots of expensive houses. It was always an expensive town, but did have a lot of lower income residents. From what friends still in the area have told me, many of these people have been priced out.

[samuelcoeli]

As a person who lives Venice everyday, congrats for making a pretty accurate video. But be aware that Venice’s comune is not that yellow highlighted part, that is Metropolitan area of Venice(also called provincia), and has about 800k habitants. Also, the entrance fee is thought to be postponed by years(average Italian bureaucracy).

[kueller]

I think Amsterdam's more recent policies at least have the right idea on tourism. It's not banning people outright but limiting the industry behind it. Beautiful cities will always have a draw to visitors but let that market go unchecked and it'll snowball. Venice's historic island might be too far gone but the rest of the city is not free from the risk of displacement.

[RichardRenes]

I gather that something similar has happened to historic Prague: Almost every house that became vacant was bought up by Russian or Chinese real estate magnates so they could be rented out as an Air BnB. Result: most Czech people moved out of the city center, followed by most shops depending on those residents. Outside tourism season, the inner city of Prague is dead... and that's a shame...

[Homer-OJ-Simpson]

I’ve been to Venice (historic area) twice for a total of 3 days. One day I walked most of Venice and went to the other side of the island. The tourist areas are all in the first half of the island nearer the train station and up to San Marco square. Step away from the main “streets” and you often see locals. Go to the other side of the island and it’s entirely locals. On the other half of the island, It was interesting to see parks with grass, a few single family homes, large beautiful walkways, very quiet, etc. I imagine a bigger share of historic Venice was like this before the rush of tourist in the past few decades.

[JoshuaFagan]

I remember when I was in Venice (Venezia) in 2019, I stumbled into a free tour of the city. The guide was charming and informative, but he also talked about the rush of young people leaving the city, and he lamented how crowded the city had become with tourists. Such are the paradoxes and contradictions of Venice.

[urbanfile]

I used to go often to Venice when I was a student, more than 20 years ago, and live as 'insider' with other students who used to live in Venice.
I think your anlasys is quite correct, over all the difficult to live in a city packed with tourists in the narrow alleys and many points you can't avoid (there are only three bridges on Canal Grande. Four if we take Calatrava's bridge in account).
I'll add another key factor. Houses in Venice are 'uncomfortable'. They're tiny, humid, without lifts.
A house in a horrible '50s grey flat in mainland is way more attractive if you're aiming for a more comfortable way of living.

[strategicgamingwithaacorns]

This is why historically significant cities such as Venice should impose legal tourism caps to prevent the historic city from turning into a theme park.

[Gryphonisle]

An overlooked problem with Venice is international retailers who are gutting storefronts, ripping out all the ancient ground floor architectural detail in order to create a white-out retail space of no particular charter. When we visited in 2012 this was limited to a few crowded areas. Looking at videos and google street view recently though I’ve seen it’s spread significantly. What makes Venice Venice is being stripped away without apparent notice.

[gokce]

I'm a student in Venice and even for us the island is very difficult to live in, housing can cost twice as much as Mestre and most students commute daily from there to study.

[ranocchiasimpatica]

Thanks for making this video! I live in mestre and go to school in venice, you explained venice's situation really well. The problem is that our local administration keeps prioritizing tourists over residents. If some of you reading this want to visit our city, remember to be respecful towards the environment, the public spaces and the residents!

[aquaarietta]

Visited Venice for a day in early November last year. We had to go to the mainland to go to the public transit system's lost and found to pick up something we left on the bus from the airport to the mainland the night before. It was nice to see the more quaint and peaceful side of the mainland (at least where we went) as a result. When it comes to over-tourism, I think limits on the number of tourists per day is absolutely necessary. Even in a somewhat low tourist season as early November, it was still too crowded in the evening. I hope as much can be done to preserve the city for the future because despite the many touristy areas, there is still much beautiful and historic places in quieter areas.

[minkyone]

I'm a Venetian.
Thank you so much for putting my city's problems on the spotlight!

[emmythemac]

A similar thing is happening in Santa Fe; gorgeous city with a fascinating history, yet very few locals can afford to live in the historic city center.