A public housing building is purchased by a large real estate company, which evicts all the tenants to use the building for short-term rentals. It is yet another consequence of the touristification of Venice, but in this case there is one person who resists: it is Silvia (not her real name), a 40-year-old woman who opposed three interventions by the bailiff – the last attempted yesterday – and which has become a victim of building speculation permitted by the tourist economy.
We are in Calle dei Guardiani, in the Dorsoduro district, in a 2000 square meter building built at the beginning of the twentieth century to create public housing. In 1969 the municipality sold it free of charge to Ca’ Foscari University, which in 2016 sold it at auction for less than 2 million euros to the Venetian real estate company Bpt Invest. They are around 800 euros per square meter, a gift when compared to the value of properties which in this neighborhood is more than quadruple.
THE BUILDING IN 2019 it was resold for 4 million euros to Immobiliare Delta of Rome, which began work to transform the 18 apartments into 32 mini-apartments. The construction site involves the construction of septic tanks, which the Venice building regulations require only for tourist rentals and not for residential properties. «This means that Immobiliare Delta intends to use the building for short-term rentals to holidaymakers», says Orazio Alberti of Ocio, a collective that deals with residential accommodation in Venice.
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Between expiring and non-renewed contracts and generous severance offers, the new ownership manages to remove all the tenants except the woman, who requests anonymity but claims “the same temper as my partisan great-uncle”. Silvia also won a civil case against Immobiliare Delta for the harassment she suffered during the renovation works: «In response to my refusal to leave, I was locked inside a building site together with my sick and disabled mother», she says. «We lived for a year among rubble, dust and the noise of drills. Now I am left alone and I have no alternatives. I was born here and I want to stay here.”
THE FIRST SHAREHOLDER of Immobiliare Delta is Paola Ginobbi, owner of some hotel structures in Rome and Florence as well as a member of the board of directors of Sulla Strada, a voluntary organization that fights against the labor exploitation of poor children in Guatemala. The company that owns the property was adamant towards Silvia: “On 23 April, when the bailiff first entered, they broke down my door and I found myself alone in front of ten men”, says the woman.
«I was in shock for days, lying in bed unable to eat or work. I am now at the end of my tether and without the support of activists, I would risk giving up.” Faced with Silvia’s third refusal to leave the apartment, yesterday the bailiff granted another month’s time. But the woman, who works in a tourist business in the historic center, says she cannot afford another home.
«THOSE WHO WERE LODGINGS intended for public housing for low-income people, they are being transformed into luxury apartments for wealthy tourists”, reports Marco Gasparinetti, municipal councilor of the civic list Terra e acqua. «The extension of the eviction to July 5th is a small battle won, but in a war that we are losing. In Venice, more and more buildings are the subject of similar operations. The municipality has blocked changes of use from residential to hospitality, but to get around the rule, you can continue to buy entire buildings and create mini apartments for short-term rentals. In fact these are hotels without reception. We need a law to prevent speculation.”
IN DECEMBER 2023 residents in the historic center of Venice have dropped to 49,211, while accredited tourist beds have exceeded the threshold of 50 thousand. «At this rate, only the rich will be able to live in insular Venice», Gasparinetti reports. “The municipality has only been able to introduce the entrance fee, which is a useless measure and designed to distract media attention.”
TO RAISE AWARENESS on the housing emergency in Venice, Ocio carries out timely monitoring and documentation activities on its website. «Behind the speculative operations there are not only private companies, but also some public bodies», underlines Alberti. «Like in Calle degli Stagneri in San Marco, where Bankitalia rented 12 of its apartments to a Spanish group to create a luxury tourist residence. But the municipality seems focused only on the tourist economy and is not interested in housing policies.”
