The entry ticket to Venice made its debut on Thursday 25 April, the ticket with an access fee aimed at controlling the waves of daily tourists who register especially in the high season. Demonstrations in the city against the decision of the mayor Luigi Brugnaro. The mayor: “Is there any protest? Okay, we accept it. I hope it helps to improve.”
Debuts today, Thursday 25 April, the entry ticket to Venice, the ticket with access fee aimed at checking the waves of daily tourists which are recorded especially in high season.
I am over 80 thousand the people who registered their presence in the city today, Liberation Day and feast of the city’s patron saint, San Marco. However, only 7 thousand, one in ten, according to data updated yesterday afternoon, have paid the ticket 5 € to access the historic center.
All other accesses are for people exempt from the tax (citizens, workers, students and other categories), required to register on the online platform but not to pay. The controls leading to the ‘corridors’ to access the obligatory passages to Piazza San Marco are extensive.
Ticket Venice, the entry fee is starting: how it works, who has to pay it and how long it is valid
Protests against the ticket in the city
The payment of the contribution and the registration requirement have created a switched on debate clearly dividing those who approve the new measures from those who reject them. “We understood the problem, Italy is made up of ancient cities – says an American lady who came from Florence -, there is no harm in paying if you can then visit the city better. The only problem is the time that runs away in queues. If they had told us this in Florence we might have paid in another way.”
This morning around 300 protesters belonging to social centers brought Piazzale Roma to life protest against the introduction of the ticket of access to the city for day tourists. Some moment of tension it was recorded when they tried to overcome the police cordon, to reach the area of the train station, where there was the checkpoint on the vouchers, or on the QRs that certify the exemption for the categories that only have to register on the Municipality app.
In the sights of the protesters especially the figure of the mayor Luigi Brugnaro, and the idea of a city transformed into “Veniceland”. There was a calmer climate, however, in a second demonstration by the citizen committees against the ticket, positioned close to the QR checkpoint. There was also a brief discussion with mayor Brugnaroended in a hug.
The mayor: “Legitimate protests, they serve to improve”
“Nothing has ever been done to regulate tourism, politics doesn’t do it because it has no interest in doing so. I did it.” The mayor of Venice said it Louis Brugnaro in front of the station, where the gates were installed for the start of the experimentation on the access contribution to the historic city.
“I apologize for the inconvenience but we have to do something – he added – we cannot just talk, we must try to do something and now we are doing it because we have the duty and task of leaving and preserving the city for the next generations”.
“There fear of change it is legitimate – underlined Brugnaro – but this too can serve to improve but if fear blocks everything there is no progress, there is no future”. “Today we spend more money than we collect – he continued – but this is not an expense is a way to make it clear that we need to change and therefore dilute visits to the city while avoiding congestion and people are understanding this. C‘is there some protest? Okay, we accept it, it’s legitimate. I just hope it helps to improve.”
“The experimentation will be medium-long – explained Brugnaro -, we have to collect data and information to then calibrate the system, offer services as the QR code already does which has the city map with, for example, the toilets marked and then when we move on to the economic profit everything will go in services to the city: we no longer have the funding from the Special Law for Venice even if, if it is found for the Messina bridge, it could also be found for this unique city”. “The greatest satisfaction – he concluded – is to see who approaches the you enter waving the access QR code: they understand”.
How the entrance ticket works
For the moment the municipal calendar has been set 29 days in which entry to the lagoon city will be subject to a fee. But there are many exemptions. The entrance fee is in fact required only for tourists daily non-residents in Veneto who do not stay in hotels, guest houses and B&Bs in the city (who already pay the tourist tax) and have a amount of 5 euros per person.
Exempt from payment are people who go to Venice from 4pm to 8.30am or those who visit the smaller islands, as well as children under 14 years of age, disabled people and their companions. Exemptions also provided for spouses, cohabitants and relatives of residents in Veneto up to the third degree and also for those who, without family ties, go to visit people resident and domiciled in the city or on the smaller islands.
And also for the workers And workers (employed or self-employed), for students And students of any level and level of schools and universities located in the ancient city or in the smaller islands and all the subjects and members of the families of those who appear to have paid the IMU in the Municipality of Venice.
Payment takes place through the online platform (http://cda.ve.it) where it is possible to obtain a QR Code to show in case of checks but where it is also possible to purchase a coupon in tobacconists throughout Italy. There fine for anyone found not in compliance with the ticket it ranges from 50 euros to 300 euros. Anyone caught making false declarations to obtain exemption risks criminal charges.
