Will the last Venetian to leave please turn out the lights?
U.K. newspaper The Telegraph reports that residents of one of the world’s most popular destinations held an ironic protest on Sunday against rising prices and tourist traffic, saying their city had become a Disney-like "Veniceland."
"Venice has become an entertainment park for the 20 million tourists that benevolently invade us every year," Matteo Secchi, a spokesman for the Venessia group behind the protest, said in a statement.
The campaigners want the city to provide affordable housing for locals and to diversify Venice's economy away from tourism. They say that life for Venetians is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive, as grocery shops are turned into souvenir stores and historic apartment buildings are converted into bed and breakfasts.
The resident population of Venice is only about 59,000.
Protesters wearing theme park costumes conducted a procession along the Grand Canal in gondolas as puzzled tourists looked on.
"All we can do now is hold a party and inaugurate the 'Veniceland' theme park. It's an ironic provocation for the city administration, which appears not to be able to reverse the tendency," Secchi said.
The protest comes exactly a year after the same group organised a mock funeral for the city to lament the fact that the population had dropped beneath 60,000 for the first time in centuries.
"A year has gone by, but we feel that nothing has been done by Venice's council to help local people," said Secchi. "They are doing nothing to preserve the city's socio-economic fabric. The true Venice is dying. It is losing its soul."
Venice mayor Giorgio Orsoni said he would work with Venessia "to find the best solutions for possible action."
Vittoria Risi, a Venezian porn star, and members of Venessia.com, a group of campaigners for the defence of the city of Venice, parade in gondolas during the protest. (AFP Photo)
