A sinking feeling
Exploring the effects of tourism on one of Italy’s magnificent cities by adam hawboldt
Photo: Courtesy of Taskovski Films ltd.
V
enice, Italy, is one of the most remarkable cities on Earth. Hands down. It’s the birthplace of Marco Polo, Casanova, Titian, and Vivaldi. Shakespeare set two of his plays there. Thomas Mann wrote about it in Death in Venice. And with St. Mark’s Basillica, the Grand Canal, the gondoliers, the Piazza San Marco, and the ancient and romantic aura that hovers over the city like a blanket, it’s no wonder thousands of tourists flock there every day. But we’re not just talking one or two thousand tourists here. Nope. Nearly 60,000 people visit the Queen of the Adriatic every day. Yes, you read that right. Sixty thousand people, every single day. Which is a substantial number, especially when you consider the population of Venice hovers somewhere in the neighbourhood of 58,000 denizens. But not to worry. Naturally all this tourism is a major boost to the economy, so outside of suffering mass invasions every day, the people in Venice are all well and good. Right?
Not a chance. And that’s what a new documentary by Andreas Pichler is all about. Called The Venice Syndrome, this documentary breaks past the beautiful veneer of the city and shows what life there is really like. And boy oh boy, it’s nothing like the Venice you see on postcards or travel guides. Many of people who live there live lives of struggle and hardship, yet their sad existences are pushed into the shadows by the overwhelming beauty of the city. The documentary, for the most part, focuses on a few of these people. They love their city and are proud of where they come from. But life isn’t easy. Property values are out of control, forcing normal citizens to do things they never envisioned — like renting out the main parts of their houses just to make ends meet, or being forced to leave their home and relocate to the mainland because they can’t find work. At the heart of this, Pichler is quick to point out, is the nature of
The Venice Syndrome Andreas Pichler written by Andreas Pichler + Thomas Tielsch Directed by
82 minutes | NR
modern tourism. Once upon a time, people would travel to Venice and stay there for a week or two. They would rent a room in a hotel, eat at cafes, drink in local bars. Back then, all was well and good. These days, things are different.
pictures, buying souvenirs, then getting back on their ship and leaving. Much of the money they spend goes to international corporations
…this documentary breaks past the beautiful veneer of the city and shows what life there is really like.
tearing down the infrastructure of the city. There’s more to The Venice Syndrome that just this. Much, much more. It’s a sobering, informational, at times alarming picture of a city in peril. Of a citizenry that knows exactly what the cost of mass tourism can be. The Venice Syndrome will open at the Regina Public Library on August 22.
Adam Hawboldt
Instead of visiting, staying, and pumping money into the local economy, now hoards of people are showing up on cruise ships, wandering around for a day, taking
that have a stranglehold on the Venetian economy. This is a major problem. So too are the cruise ships that constantly move the waters which, subsequently, are
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