Venice introduces a 5 euro fee for visitors to the old city on 29 peak days

Visiting Venice to become a paid affair on 29 days this year: certain days in April, May, June and July, when attendance at Venice Biennale events peaks.

The charge will be 5 euros a day. It may be raised once the number of visitors to the city reaches a set threshold.

All guests will have to pay. Exempt from payment are residents, relatives of Venetians, inhabitants of the region, students of local educational institutions and local employees. Turnstiles will appear in the city, and entry will be granted by QR code from a dedicated app.

Visits can be booked and paid for on a special website.

The Mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, explained that, as head of the most beautiful city in the world, he must acknowledge the problems with people's quality of life, with courtesy and respect for the rules, which have arisen in recent years. This is, of course, a step towards the general convenience, at least on the 29 "busy" days. The head of Venice stressed that nobody wants to close the city, and that visiting on the very busiest days remains open to all: those who wish to come simply have to take care to book their dates and pay a purely symbolic fee.

The 5 euros, given prices in Europe, is a formality. It is the price of a single fridge magnet and a packet of chewing gum, or of a sandwich and a little bottle of water. I doubt that this measure will stop the countless hordes of tourists storming the ancient city.

At the press conference the mayor suggested that Venice is the first city in the world to try such a way of dealing with guests. In essence, however, this is a refined version of the resort or tourist tax that already exists in Italy and in many other countries or individual cities, except that now it is levied not only on hotel guests but on any visitor at all.

Incidentally, the charge will be collected only for visiting the old city; the islands and other districts remain free.