On the first day of testing the entrance ticket to Venice, there is an attack on the gazebo for payment or exemption from the entrance fee outside the Venice train station. Added to the many tourists and commuters on holiday are the ranks of journalists who have come from much of the world to study the first ‘ticket’ designed to visit a city.
Over 80 thousand people registered their presence in the city today, 25 April. However, only 7 thousand, one in ten, according to data updated yesterday afternoon, have paid the 5 euro voucher to access the historic centre. All other accesses are for people exempt from the tax (Venetian citizens, workers, students and other categories), required to register on the online platform but not to pay. Among these, 30,300 are guests of the accommodation facilities, 9,450 are Venetians, potential ‘day’ holidaymakers.
With the controls leading to the ‘corridors’ to access the nearby Ponte degli Scalzi or the Lista di Spagna obligatory passages for San Marco, today is his feast: he is the Patron Saint of Venice. There is a bit of amazement, few were prepared for such an imposing machine at one of the main terminals of the city but no one is complaining. Tourists are divided, with exemption or not. on the mien to be paid. A family from Puglia hosting family members in Veneto is exempt but must register. They snort at the registration machine, something doesn’t add up, they ask the assistant for help and in the meantime they comment “it’s not right to pay or be registered” but to the objection about the evils of overtourism they reply “this isn’t right either”. The approval of the foreign tourists who pay is unanimous, mainly Americans, French and Spanish. “We understood the problem, Italy is made up of ancient cities – says an American lady who came from Florence -, there is nothing wrong with paying if you can then visit the city better. The only problem is that time flies by queue, if they had told us in Florence we would have perhaps paid in another way”. Embarrassment for a group of girls from Vicenza. They have to go to lunch in Pellestrina – they are exempt because it is an island – but they don’t know whether they have to register or not, they look for information on the totems but are immediately kidnapped by a TV for an interview.
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