Venice, stop at open-and-close shops in the historic center: -83% closures

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The closures of neighborhood shops have decreased by 83%: this is the first figure that catches the eye when looking at the monitoring conducted by the Municipality of Venice on the effects of Dcc 26/2022, the so-called “anti-packaging” resolution which introduced measures to regulate commercial and artisanal activities in some areas of the historic center for the purposes of protecting and enhancing cultural heritage.

The administration has long been looking for ways to intervene on open-and-close activities and combat commercial desertification, closely linked to tourist exploitation. Introduced post-Covid with a three-year trial phase, the provision was made definitive in May 2025: the establishment of “food sector retail trade”, “artisan/industrial production” and “preparation and/or sale of food products” activities is prohibited, unless they are neighborhood activities such as butchers, fishmongers, agricultural products, bakeries and so on. Activities that do not require the presence of staff, such as coin-operated laundries or vending machines, are also prohibited.

Not only that: existing businesses have the obligation to adapt the aesthetic/visual impact of the product display to the urban context, according to the measures identified by the administration together with the IUAV University which include, for example, a ban on displaying products outside the shop.

The results

«At the beginning they told us that no one would come to open in Venice anymore – says the municipal councilor for commerce and productive activities, Sebastiano Costalonga -. Instead, little by little the traders arrived, many of them are very young artisans. We gave a good beating to the system of open-and-close shops, which is very popular in a tourist country like ours, while also creating unfair competition for those who instead work to remain in the area.”

And now, a few years after the provision, the results are arriving: in this experimental phase, 222 new businesses have been opened, mainly high-end fashion and artistic craftsmanship, followed by art objects and bookshops. Furthermore, throughout the historic centre, 71% of new openings involved areas subject to protection.