Why Nobody Lives In Historic Venice

Bright Side

Historic Venice, with its canals and centuries-old buildings, has a unique charm, but fewer people call it home today for various reasons. The city faces challenges like rising sea levels and frequent flooding, making it a tough environment for residents. Additionally, the increasing number of tourists has driven up the cost of living, pushing many locals to the outskirts. The maintenance of historic structures is costly, and strict preservation regulations make renovations challenging. The population has dwindled, creating a delicate balance between preserving Venice's rich history and adapting to the modern challenges.   Credit:  Route of Marco Polo: SY, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Animation is created by Bright Side.  #brightside   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Listen to Bright Side on:  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD... Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.... Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.of... Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-b...  Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00 Here's a quick pop quiz on geography and touristy stuff.

00:04 What's the biggest city in Italy?

00:07 Did you say Rome?

00:08 Then you got it right!

00:09 Rome has a population of over 2 million people.

00:13 And what would you say is the current population of Venice?

00:15 That's a tricky one to know by heart, but to answer correctly, in 2022, it was a little

00:21 over 258,000 people.

00:25 But if I told you that for 80% of them, the Venice they live in isn't the tourist and

00:30 historical one with all the canals.

00:32 It's rather the other side of town.

00:35 If you know someone who's traveled to Venice before, they may have sent you a postcard

00:39 with an image of a gondola in a canal.

00:42 I bet you never imagined that Venice could also just look like this.

00:46 Just a regular old Italian city.

00:49 As tourists, we have a strong misconception about what Venice is.

00:53 We think the real Venice is what we see in the movies.

00:56 Well, I hate to be the one to pop your illusion, but there's more to Venice than straight

01:00 canals and old bridges.

01:03 Here are the boundaries of the real Venice.

01:06 Probably the postcards you get only picture this bit of the city called Centro Storico,

01:11 or historical center.

01:12 But the city also includes the mainland, called Terra Firma, where most Venetians live today.

01:18 The interesting thing to look at is how the number of people living in the historical

01:23 center has decreased over the years.

01:26 From then on, the number started to reduce more with each passing year.

01:30 Today, only 50,000 people can afford to live there.

01:34 To understand that, let's travel back in time for a moment.

01:38 Before Venice became an important Italian city, it was nothing but a fisherman's village.

01:43 It was only around the 5th century that people decided to take a chance and build on the

01:48 marshy ground of the Venetian islands.

01:50 If you've ever wondered how Venice holds up, let's just say it's due to strong

01:54 blocks of wood driven deep into the ground.

01:57 As it turns out, you need oxygen and water to ruin wood, and in marshy soils, there isn't

02:03 much oxygen, so the buildings were safe.

02:06 It was during the Middle Ages that Venice became one of the world's most important

02:10 maritime empires.

02:12 You might remember that's where Marco Polo, the famous merchant and explorer, came from.

02:17 The city was extremely well located, right in the Adriatic Sea, and had access to huge

02:23 commercial empires of the time, like the city of Constantinople.

02:27 At that time, the most prestigious jobs you could get were like the ones Marco Polo had,

02:32 anything related to long-distance trading.

02:36 Since then, Venice consists of 118 islands, and some say there are around 400 bridges

02:42 in the city.

02:43 Question here – can you name at least two of the most famous Venetian islands?

02:48 Let's start with Burano.

02:50 The island of Burano is famous for its lace-making and its super colorful landscape.

02:55 FYI, Burano is also home to a less famous leaning tower than the one in Pisa.

03:00 It's called the Tower of Burano.

03:03 And then there's the island of Murano.

03:05 They are famous for their products of fine glass.

03:08 You can find anything from huge vases to water glasses, jewelry, and so on.

03:13 They're quite exquisite, but also super expensive.

03:17 But you know what they say – time changes everything.

03:20 In the 20th century, Venice was no longer the trading hub it once was.

03:24 Its economic power was failing seriously, so the city decided to invest in something

03:29 else – its historical value.

03:32 And the best way they found how to do that was through preservation.

03:36 Let's face it, if you're a tourist who enjoys history, you would jump at the opportunity

03:41 of visiting a UNESCO heritage site, wouldn't you?

03:44 Initially, this was rather good for the city.

03:47 But the thing is, as tourism in Venice skyrocketed, the old dynamics of the city started to change

03:53 to keep up with the intense tourism.

03:55 Truth is, in our day and age, lots of tourists rather buy small and cheap souvenirs than

04:01 invest their money in expensive manufactured goods such as the classic Murano glasses.

04:07 The traditional Venetian stores that were open hundreds of years ago just didn't have

04:11 the economic power to compete with new stores that opened to cater specifically for tourists.

04:17 And then, what happened next is something we often call "falling down the rabbit hole."

04:23 Because as it turned out, tourists attracted more tourists, and Venice lost control over

04:28 it.

04:29 The maximum sustainable number of tourists in Venice would be around 22,500 people per

04:35 day.

04:36 But in 2021, Venice saw up to 80,000 tourists per day in certain parts of the year.

04:42 If you remember that there are only 50,000 people living in Venice's historical center

04:47 nowadays, that almost means that tourists outnumber locals by 2 to 1.

04:52 This is what gave Venice one of its current nicknames amongst the locals, which is a "short-term

04:58 city."

04:59 I mean, if you live in a touristy city such as New York City or Paris, you'd be sure

05:04 to avoid the parts of the city that are more touristy.

05:07 But in Venice, that's difficult, since we're talking about several small islands.

05:12 Whether you want it or not, the city is constantly packed.

05:16 Locals started to complain that things such as getting a table at a restaurant or crossing

05:21 an important square such as Piazza San Marco would take hours.

05:25 Not to mention that instead of normal car traffic, well, in Venice, you can experience

05:30 some gondola traffic.

05:32 But that's not even the worst that's been happening.

05:35 As the number of tourists per year started to rise exponentially, so did the infrastructure

05:40 to accommodate all these people.

05:42 When landlords understood that they could make more money off of tourists than they

05:46 could with locals, overall prices started to soar.

05:49 That's why from the 1950s onward, fewer Venetians were able to continue living in

05:55 the city's historical center.

05:58 Tourists decided to more than double the prices of housing.

06:01 So a family that paid around 800 euros for their apartment now had to pay something around

06:06 1,500 euros to stay in the same place.

06:10 And social services couldn't even do anything about it because there were so many similar

06:15 cases happening all over the historical center.

06:18 This may sound like something small, but when you stop to look at the big picture, it's

06:22 changing the social fabric of the city.

06:25 Yep, that's what usually happens in super touristy places.

06:30 France is having to deal with a similar problem of over-tourism.

06:33 France's Ministry of Tourism has concluded that tourists are spending less money, yet

06:38 over-exploiting the classic tourist landmarks.

06:42 Cities are made up of much more than just buildings and infrastructure.

06:45 As urban sociologist Georg Simmel said, "Cities need to be heterogeneous, and by raising the

06:51 prices of rent so much, the first ones to be kicked out of the city were the younger

06:56 generations.

06:57 After that, only well-established elderly people could afford to stay in the city center."

07:03 Things started getting so out of hand in Venice's historical center that UNESCO itself threatened

07:08 to put the city on its list of heritage sites in danger of severe damage.

07:13 That's tough, huh?

07:15 The city is still trying to find ways to mitigate the effects of tourism.

07:19 The first thing they did was to ban those huge cruise ships from stopping in the city's

07:24 historical area.

07:25 Oh, and the city produced a tourism fee.

07:28 Normally, anyone sleeping in the historical center already pays a fee.

07:33 But nowadays, tourists have to register their entry and pay a daily fee for exploring the

07:38 main island.

07:39 The profits from this fee are directed toward making life in Venice's city center more

07:43 affordable.

07:44 Hopefully, these policies will allow Venetians to move back to Venice's city center.

07:49 Ciao!

07:50 That's it for today!

07:52 So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

07:56 friends!

07:57 Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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