Category Archives: Venice

Pope visits women’s prison in Venice and tours Vatican show at art Biennale

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Pope Francis, 87, met inmates, staff and volunteers at Giudecca jail during first trip outside Rome for months

The pope has met female prisoners in Venice who are stars of the Vatican’s pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show, and urged the women to rebuild their lives in the first ever papal visit to one of the world’s biggest art gatherings.

Pope Francis, 87, arrived by helicopter in the courtyard of the women’s prison on the island of Giudecca, amid concerns over his health. He has not travelled outside Rome since visiting the French city of Marseille in September.

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Europe live: Venice residents protest as city begins visitor charging scheme

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Locals say city is against plan and accuse authorities of turning Venice into a ‘theme park’ by charging day trippers for visits

Transport & Environment, an NGO campaigning for cleaner transport, has warned about the impact of over-tourism.

”The current number of cruise ships globally is higher than it’s ever been, according to data from Clarksons Research,” the NGO said this morning.

Europe’s luxury cruise ships emit as much toxic sulphur as a billion cars, and low-cost airlines are now polluting more CO2 than ever.

The uncontrolled growth of these two sectors must come to an end.

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‘Are we joking?’: Venice residents protest as city starts charging visitors to enter

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Day-trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism

Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.

Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city “livable” again.

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Venice mayor says he is brave like Marco Polo in charging day-trippers €5

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Luigi Brugnaro claims he is taking a risk no other politician would take with his measure to preserve the city

The mayor of Venice has likened the “bravery” of his decision to charge day-trippers an entrance fee to the city to that of the legendary Venetian explorer Marco Polo.

Venice will become the first mayor city in the world to adopt such a measure when the long-mooted €5 (£4.30) fee comes into force later this month.

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Museum chief brands Florence a ‘prostitute’ over tourist numbers

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Cecilie Hollberg sparks outrage in remarks about capital city of Tuscan region being ‘crushed by tourism’

Mass tourism has turned Florence into a “prostitute”, one of the city museum’s directors has said, sparking outrage from politicians including Italy’s culture minister.

“Once a city becomes a prostitute, it is difficult for it to become a virgin again,” Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses Michelangelo’s statue of David, told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

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Venice to limit tourist group size to 25 to protect historic city

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Move aims to reduce pressure of thousands of daily visitors to Italian city and protect residents

Venice is to limit the size of tourist groups in an attempt to reduce the pressure of thousands of visitors crowding its squares, bridges and narrow walkways each day.

From June, groups visiting the Italian canal city will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, the city announced this weekend. The use of loudspeakers, popular among tour groups but “which can generate confusion and disturbances”, will be banned in the city and on nearby islands, officials said in a statement.

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Venice Biennale’s new, rightwing director has art world guessing

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Meloni’s party is pleased by the appointment but Pietrangelo Buttafuoco has surprised before – not least by adopting Islam

When Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the incoming new president of the Venice Biennale, was once asked in an interview whether he was a fascist, the Italian rightwing journalist and public intellectual replied: “I am not a fascist. I am something else.”

After Buttafuoco was this week officially nominated to lead the oldest and largest cultural exhibition in the world, it is not just the artists, actors, architects, film-makers, dancers and musicians whose work will be shown at the coming biennales’ six events who are asking themselves what exactly that “something else” may be.

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Seagulls force Venice’s Marco Polo airport to close briefly

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A number of flights delayed or redirected after unusually large number of birds ‘invade’ the runway

Venice’s Marco Polo airport has been forced to close briefly after an unusually large number of seagulls “invaded” the runway, leading flights to be delayed or redirected.

Various tools were deployed to ward off the gulls on Friday morning, including a falconer and an acoustic deterrent, according to Save, the airport’s management company.

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Venice pursues homicide investigation after 21 people die in coach crash – as it happened

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Chief prosecutor Bruno Cherchi says he is proceeding with road multiple homicide investigation after tourist bus crashed off overpass in northern Italy

Massimo Fiorese, the chief executive of the transport company that owned the bus that crashed, said this morning the vehicle appeared to have been leaning on a railing, TGcom24 reported.

His comments add to speculation about the quality of infrastructure on the stretch of road where the accident took place.

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At least 21 dead after coach veers off overpass near Venice

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Tourist coach catches fire after coming off the road and falling near railway lines in Mestre, northern Italy

At least 21 people have died and 18 were injured after a tourist coach crashed off an overpass near Venice in northern Italy.

The coach was carrying a group of tourists who were returning to a campsite in Marghera after spending the day in Venice, according to reports in the Italian media.

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Venice awaits Unesco heritage ruling as beds for tourists outnumber residents for first time

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‘We feel like foreigners in our own home,’ says activist as city’s population dwarfed by visitors

The number of beds available to tourists on Venice’s main island has surpassed the number of year-round residents for the first time, as a Unesco decision on the city’s future on the world heritage site list looms.

There are now 49,693 tourist beds across hotels and rented holiday homes, compared with 49,304 inhabitants.

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Venice to trial €5 ticketing system for day visitors from 2024

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Authorities want to cut number of tourists as Unesco considers putting Italian city on heritage danger list

Venice will trial a ticketing system from spring next year, with day visitors charged €5 to enter the Italian city’s historic centre in an attempt to reduce tourist numbers.

The city’s council executive backed the move on Tuesday, just weeks after Unesco recommended Venice be added to its list of world heritage sites in danger, in part due to the impact of mass tourism.

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Venice police investigate source of bright green liquid in Grand Canal

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Speculation climate protesters could be responsible for phosphorescent patch that appeared by Rialto Bridge

Police in Venice are investigating the source of phosphorescent green liquid that appeared on Sunday in the city’s Grand Canal, amid speculation it was caused by climate protesters.

Gondoliers could be seen punting through the phosphorescent waters while tourists took photographs of the green patch, from the Rialto Bridge up and along part of the canal.

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Italians condemn ‘insult’ of Austrian-Chinese ‘European mozzarella’

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Brothers of Italy councillor in Veneto reports package featuring gondola and Tower of Pisa for ‘counterfeiting’

Sliced mozzarella cheese produced in Austria by a Chinese company and wrapped in packaging featuring images of a gondola and the Leaning Tower of Pisa has been branded the umpteenth “insult to Italian food excellence”.

Tommaso Razzolini, a councillor in the Veneto region for Brothers of Italy, the party leading Italy’s rightwing ruling coalition government, said he reported the existence of the offending mozzarella to the ministry of agriculture and food sovereignty after coming across a photo of it online.

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Venice mayor hunts for ‘idiots’ filmed surfing along Grand Canal

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Luigi Brugnaro offers dinner to anyone who can locate duo who ‘make a mockery of this city’

The mayor of Venice has said he is on the hunt for the “two overbearing idiots” who were filmed gliding along the Grand Canal on motorised foil surfboards.

The young men were spotted dodging gondolas and waterbuses as they navigated Venice’s main thoroughfare on Thursday morning. The scene was recorded by several astonished onlookers.

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Cruise passengers shuttled into Venice by motor boat to dodge big ships ban

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Move by Norwegian Cruise authorised by city’s port authority despite plans to curb daytrippers

A cruise company has circumvented a ban on its ships entering the Venice lagoon by shuttling passengers into the famous city centre on small motor boats.

Norwegian Gem, a vessel of just under 300 metres long and owned by Norwegian Cruise, anchored outside the Venice Lido early on Saturday morning. It then launched several motor boats which between them dropped about 1,500 passengers off in St Mark’s Square before picking them up again in the evening.

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Venice day-trippers will have to make reservations and pay fee

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Rules designed to better manage visitors – who often far outnumber residents – will come into force in January

Venice will oblige day-trippers to make reservations and pay a fee to visit the historic lagoon city, in an attempt to better manage visitors who often far outnumber residents in the historic centre.

Venice officials on Friday unveiled new rules for day-trippers, which will be in effect from 16 January 2023.

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Venice Biennale: women outnumber male artists in main halls for first time

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Black women occupy prominent pavilions with some venues showing work from non-binary, disabled and trans artists

There is no shortage of art’s big beasts in Venice, as the world’s most prestigious international art event, the city’s biennale, opens to the public.

Georg Baselitz has made works to hang in the 18th-century stucco frames that once held portraits of the Grimani family in their palazzo. Marc Quinn is showing in the National Archaeological Museum. Anselm Kiefer has covered the walls of a colossal room in the Palazzo Ducale with paintings encrusted with shoes, clothing, metal, and even a ladder.

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