The first weekend with pay-as-you-go tickets in Venice begins

Venice has become the first city in Italy to require a ticket for entry. For now, the ticket has been introduced experimentally, making its debut this Thursday, April 25th, just a few days before the start of the new edition of the Venice Art Biennale. The project aims to reduce the flow of people around the city, specifically to contain the quantity of daily visitors - Venice's "day trippers" number in the tens of thousands each day. Two years after the initial announcement of the project's introduction, many uncertainties still remain, including the actual preservation of the Peninsula's most beloved lido.

The ticket to enter Venice will not be required for every visit, but it will be mandatory on days when higher flows are recorded, such as during the bridge from April 25th to May 5th and during summer weekends, amounting to 29 days per year. Visitors staying in a B&B or hotel in Venice, as well as all residents of Veneto and their relatives (up to the third degree), those summoned by judicial offices, people with disabilities, those working, and those with a medical visit in the city, are exempt from paying the tourist ticket as they already pay the tourist tax. However, everyone will be required to register on a new platform launched specifically by the municipality of Venice to verify the regularity of payments and download the QR Code related to their visitor status, to be displayed if requested.

Venice is one of the main victims of the so-called "toxic tourism," the problem of mass influxes invading Italy's major tourist hubs, bringing with them a series of complications, both for the territory, which is not used to supporting (even literally: the pavements of some of the biggest tourist attractions show signs of the passage of crowds) too many people, and for the residents, who find themselves facing increased cost of living as well as rent increases (many point the finger at AirB&B). The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, has stated that staggered entrances will not be introduced, as initially thought, since the main purpose of the ticket is to curb the number of daily visitors, encouraging overnight stays in the city.