THE EDITOR
And the rector speaks for them Tiziana Lippiello. “I have asked to the municipal administration – he explained after the ceremony – theexemption from the payment of the entrance fee for our university activities, which have a positive impact on the city and the territory, also in consideration of the Venice city campus project. I am confident and look forward to a fruitful collaboration.” There reply from the Municipalityarrived quickly, with thecouncilor to the budget Michele Zuin: «We will have an interview with one of the city’s top institutions such as the rector, we will sit at a table and there will be no problems in understanding the needs of researchers and work conferences. However, graduation day is secondary.” The councilor then clarified: «There is a regulation, it would be a new exemption to be approved by the Council, personally I don’t think it’s right to exemptbecause it would go against what we are experiencing, the management of overtourism».
THE CONTROVERSY
On the political front, meanwhile, criticism has arrived advisor municipal Gianfranco Bettin: «If you want further proof of the instrumental nature of the ticket – Bettin attacked – of its uselessness for the purposes of managing flows, it can be clearly obtained from the obligation imposed on non-exempt parents, relatives and the friends of the 700 new graduates of Ca’ Foscari”. Bettin continued: «What is more planned than such an event? What is more manageable, then? What is the purpose, in this case, of the ticketif not to make cash? If not to pretend that something is really being done to govern overtourism, smoke in the eyeswhile in reality nothing is being done, especially against what really empties and distorts the city, like the rampant tourist rentals? A medieval gabellenothing more, a terrible ticket that Venice presents to the world.”
«Most relatives and friends – he replied Zuin – she will have arrived from Veneto, not everyone will be from outside and among those, someone will have slept in a hotel, paying the tourist tax”. For the councilor, therefore, the problem is also that of not widening the scope of the contribution too much: «If you ask for this exemption, then you will ask for another one and either we hold a line, or we would find ourselves exempt everyone». Finally, the councilor underlined: «I don’t think this is the problem, I think there were few who had to pay, among other things, five euros, a sum which is not a disincentive, but which is part of an experiment with a view to flow management”. Meanwhile, on the sixth day of the contribution, 16,093 people paid the contribution, compared to 49 thousand hotel guests.
THE CEREMONY
In the square the ceremony took place with a message of peace launched by the rector. «Think – Lippiello told the new graduates – how lucky and privileged you are to be able to study in such a wonderful, safe and peaceful place like this, think about how many people today would like to be here in your place and don’t take anything for granted. Precisely from the same stage on which I find myself now, Pope Francis, last Sunday, addressed our city and the entire world professing peace, he spoke of Venice as a meeting place between all cultures, from East to West, as a crossroads of civilization, you feel part of all this.”
«I know – he continued, flying over the controversies of a part of the student body and teachers who ask for the revision of the agreements on research projects with Israel – your sensitivity towards the issue of peace and sustainability and I tell you that the repudiation of war and the desire for peaceful coexistence between peoples is only possible by promoting a culture of dialogue as a tool of knowledge and respect, we must all commit to building peace correctly, everyone must do their part. The study offers no definitive certainties or even shortcuts.”
«In addition to the importance of curiosity – the councilor then said Paola Mar, before the graduation and the launch of the touch – another fundamental element for you is that of travel, today more than ever exploring the territory can lead us to dissolve those international tensions that dominate the world. Don’t be afraid, each of us may be able to say something different and equally important, as Saint Augustine said “Be free!”».
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