Someone commented, others listened, there were those who laughed. The visitors who on the first paid day in Venice heard the audio message broadcast in all languages in the city in the afternoon, asked themselves if it was really possible that after the effort made to register on the portal, purchase the contribution, wait to exhibit it, before setting foot in Venice, they could now ask for a refund of the ticket, as the recorded voice invited them to do, in case of dissatisfaction following the visit to the lagoon city which had focused the eyes of the whole world on her on Thursday.
«Dear visitors, we thank you for choosing the city of Venice. We remind you that if the attractions were not to your complete satisfaction, you can request a refund of the entrance ticket at our offices. We hope to see you soon.” This is the message. Between satire and ironic protest, the citizen association Venessia.com among others took to the field to give shape to its mobilization and say “No” to the ticket. Matteo Secchi, voice of the committee of residents of the city of water, commented on the municipal administration’s choice to charge the ticket, using the term “theme park”. “Are we kidding?” Secchi told the English newspaper The Guardian. “Most residents don’t want the ticket.” Venessia.com found its way to disagree. Other demonstrations and marches made their debut on a day in which some “strong” symbolic gesture of opposition to the measure had also been foreseen by the police, deployed in the morning in Piazzale Roma and intervened to control security and in pushing back the demonstrators who wanted to force the cordon to reach the ticket check totem. According to the Digos, there were no injuries, nor was the intention to engage in a clash on either side, as there were clearly no tools or sticks that could suggest this.
