Vita gazette – Venice asks Big Brother to control the crowd. The center of attraction, where the excessive concentration of tourists does not make the residents of the city breathe, is watched by closed-circuit television and telephone monitoring.

Tourism in Venice may never be the same again. Could be better. The pandemic has crushed the tourism industry in Venice and other overcrowded cities. But this is an opportunity to rethink a “tourist monoculture”. The first signs of this began to be seen in Venice, one of the dream cities. The ban on large ships from entering the canals, criticized for damaging the environmental and cultural heritage, paved the way for the liberation of the city. After this radical decision, video surveillance and phone monitoring are used to alleviate bottlenecks as tourists return to the streets and canals of the city,

Long before Venice became the destination of choice for millions of international vacationers, the locals had a tradition of flânerie, an aimless stroll through the city’s calli, or boardwalks. They ran into acquaintances for a chat and an occasional drink, a ombre de vin, “a shadow of wine”, as they say in the lagoon.

That tradition has been revived. The pandemic has crushed the tourism industry, reducing the hordes of annual visitors that made flânerie nearly impossible, and now many residents have more time and space to enjoy the slow pace and faded beauty of the city. With visitors absent during the pandemic, Venetians were able to venture out of their homes without fear of being crushed and admire the canals made crystal clear by the absence of motorboats lifting mud. Dolphins went wild in Piazza San Marco.

The Corona era created such an opportunity for nature, cities and their inhabitants. It sparked debates on how to make tourism cheaper and more beneficial for urban infrastructure and local residents. Following the ban on large ships from entering the city, the authorities began to monitor every resident, shopkeeper, gondolier and, above all, tourists, who entered St. Mark’s Square from a secret control room in Venice. The goal is to improve the quality of life of residents and tourists … but above all to take back Venice …