Why Nobody Lives in Venice

[@cix-bu2hl]

I've lived in Venice all my life. It's not that bad. It has its problems, but there are plenty of pros too. It's one of the safest city in Italy, violent crimes are almost nonexistent and, since there are no cars, kids can go out freely starting from a young age. Plus, we all kind of know each other and there is a strong sense of community.

[@bananasaur5209]

All of those pro's are common in many european towns who also have a declining population and are mostly empty.

[@sotch2271]

Cost of rent ?

[@omarelmasri9939]

Funny cause my italian friend who lives in milan told me venice is the worst place to live due to expenses

[@hyperion3145]

​@@omarelmasri9939 They did say it has its problems, cost of living is one apparently.

[@fischX]

​@@omarelmasri9939 that's not mutually exclusive if you don't own your home you are fucked - but the rate of ownership is high on the remaining

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

I visited Italy late last year, and when I got to Padua, I thought to myself "Ah, yes, this is where all the Venetians went. If I were a Venetian, I'd have moved here too." -B

[@KRYMauL]

That's definitely where they went it has the canals and everything.

[@viniciuscilla]

Did you like my city? (Padua)

[@gabrielgarcia7554]

Your channel is what made me interested in Venice, therefore Blue you are clearly part of the problem 😔 (jk).

[@calicodavis1511]

At one point watching this video, I was like, "I wonder what Blue would think of this?" Now I know! :D

[@lavillenouvelle]

There are definitely a lot of Venice lookalikes scattered between northeastern Italy and the Coast of Slovenia and Croatia. And most of them are as beautiful as the original one, but much less crowded with tourists.

[@MartijnterHaar]

"We don't want to become the next Venice": the warning heard in the city councils of many historical European cities. It is not just tourism, but also expats, who often benefit from tax exemptions, that drive out low and middle incomes locals.

[@feelgoodcorp1]

Lets be honest with ourselves and stop calling them expats. They are American IMMIGRANTS.

[@elarmino6590]

Europe is destined to be a great nursing home

[@soundscape26]

@@elarmino6590 No, we're cool.

[@TheAmericanCatholic]

Immigrants not expats. I find it annoying how some of us westerners think they are exempt from being immigrants and call them expats.

[@sizanogreen9900]

@@soundscape26 well, they may be overstating the problem a bit but we have some REAL problems here with an aging population, yes, but also with a severe lack of innovation in the economic sense and increasing stratification/wealth inequality. Add to that that our education systems are mostly bad and many people don't want to get into the jobs necessary for our societies/economies to work sustainably, be it because of insufficient pay or just a misfocus of educational paths, but also don't want immigrants.

[@mind-of-neo]

If anyone is wondering, They implanted massive shafts of wood upright into the ground, placing enough of them close together in a series that a solid ground foundation was formed; the water that saturated the area actually served to help strengthen the wooden pillars, due to petrification.

[@poopyfartboi]

Thanks bro. What’s the green pill, if you don’t mind enlightening me further?

[@leandersearle5094]

@@poopyfartboi If I had to take a stab, the human development and environmental stewardship aren't mutually exclusive, like the predominant narrative.

[@laughingvampire7555]

they are called "piles" not "shafts" a shaft has to rotate and transmits mechanical energy.

[@chinchillatwitch7234]

Allot of the old historical houses in the city center of Amsterdam are also build on wooden pillars, that got petrification. And we litterly have the same issue over there, houses being converted into airbnb's and no more locals, due to tourism.

[@darrenlesueur4785]

​@chinchillatwitch7234 that's because the venetian bankers moved their operation to the Nederlands and created the dutch east india company.

[@soundscape26]

It's sinking, many buildings are crumbling and it suffers from overtourism.

[@OhSome1HasThisName]

and it'll be flooded by climate change unless the Italian gov't gets it act together and builds a barrage across the inlets to the lagoon

[@GianlucaLebani]

Everything is expensive, it is noisy, there are no doctors…

[@emylily8266]

Venice has been sinking from it's inception, every single building there has a "foundation" made up of now fully buried floors. Problem is they don't wanna tear down/renovate buildings anymore to keep it touristy, so they can't keep going up.

[@intrusivethoughts3601]

@@agi1041 I think he meant housing

[@nexusgaminguniverse3722]

@Nick Gerz u are an extrovert

[@guyinvenice]

I live in the historic centre and, yes, no denying there are problems, but we don't help the situation by exaggerating those problems either. Venice isn't astonishingly expensive, despite landlord villainy - it's way less unaffordable than Milan, say, though with lower incomes; and I've never had a problem with 'day-to-day shopping' on the island, goodness me there's a supermarket every two minutes, nevermind traditional fruttivendoli. It's also worth noting that a lot of students don't show up in official population statistics in Italy because it's fiendishly bureaucratic to change your official residence. I know mostly students and post-student artists etc, and practically the only official Venetian residents among us are the foreigners - like me! Venice is a younger city (and more populous) than appears in the records. Like I say, not trying to deny the problems. But there's a certain fatalism that sets in, IMO somewhat present in this video too, that can make eminently solveable problems appear unsolveable. AirBNB restrictions have already started in the EU (specifically Barcelona), just to name one idea. The Mose flood barrier has already, virtually overnight, drastically alleviated the 'acqua alta' problem that was threatening the city. But if we fall into fatalism there's a chance we end up doing nothing where we could do something, and this is especially true of outsiders, in particular the national and EU governments. It's worth pointing out that it wasn't the local government that banned the cruise ships, but the culture minister in the Draghi administration, going over the heads of rather, er, fiscally-minded Venetian government officials. We need more of that, and that'll take a change of narrative. Venice remains an alive city, it does, it's not just an older dirtier version of the Vegas thing. During the pandemic locals did start to consider the possibility of a life less touristic, and action is actually possible. The first step is believing it is.

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

Thanks for your perspective, very interesting.

[@Bandwagons]

Thank you for that hopeful voice. We need this is cities that are in a similar situation.

[@yatinhu1153]

Sappiamo tutti che i vèneti non sono mai felici, sempre hanno qualcosa da lamentarsi! Obs: Da un veronese :)

[@dlevi67]

@@yatinhu1153 🤣 E come diceva Epimenide il cretese, tutti i cretesi sono dei gran bugiardi.

[@ikmarchini]

@@yatinhu1153 Tutti gli'Italiani.

[@PLuMUK54]

It's not just cities like Venice. Some years ago I used to do my shopping in Stratford-upon-Avon. It was pleasant; a supermarket, a weekly market, and plenty of independent shops right in the centre meant that we could do our weekly shop, and go to a variety of places for a coffee before returning home. Then tourist numbers began to increase hugely. Pavements became crowded, parking became harder, and soon the independent shops that we used began closing down, or moving to an out-of-town site. The supermarket closed. The small department stores closed. Eventually, there was no point going into the town as everything was geared toward the tourists. It has been years since my last visit. When the choice was an out-of-town site, and the much reduced in size weekly market, I decided there was no point going there as I could visit lookalike centres nearer home. The main difference is that unlike Venice, Stratford-upon-Avon attracted middle and upper income residents, and has increased its population by building lots of expensive houses. It was always an expensive town, but did have a lot of lower income residents. From what friends still in the area have told me, many of these people have been priced out.

[@bristoled93]

Tourists don't price out locals as tourists don't live in other places.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

Winchester Christmas Market used to be quaint and lovely, but is now overcrowded by Indians and Pakistanis coming down from London. It does not feel English anymore, and it loses the small city atmosphere.

[@forced-into-Google-Handle]

Thank you very much for your insight! I was a stock trader until not long ago and was always wondering what strange things are happening to the world... Economies suffering a lot but stocks soaring higher as does real estate. When you look at Venice, Stratford, San Fran, any us ski town, even Denver where I live which has horrible traffic & trains, U see a global mess that may get even worse. Elites pushing the gap between RICH and poor is main problem. I used to live and ski in JAPAN and it's amazingly opposite; Easy Living!

[@lzh4950]

Meanwhile I read that HK has so many tourists (65m annually before the pandemic) that a group of them waiting along a pavement blocked residents from an apartment building there from leaving

[@samuelcoeli5937]

As a person who lives Venice everyday, congrats for making a pretty accurate video. But be aware that Venice’s comune is not that yellow highlighted part, that is Metropolitan area of Venice(also called provincia), and has about 800k habitants. Also, the entrance fee is thought to be postponed by years(average Italian bureaucracy).

[@cabalenproductions6480]

At least we know there is more to Venice than the historical district.

[@luisa146]

Anyone else think the entrance fee is not going to stop any tourist from coming in? Like these people spend hundreds-thousands in flight and accomodation. What's a few euros going to change?

[@KyrieFortune]

​@@luisa146absolutely nothing, if anything it will make it harder to commute if you are a worker or a student. It's just a money scheme and potentially a legal nightmare since it could go against the "free movement for Italian citizens" in the Constitution

[@bruh-hr1mt]

@@luisa146such a fee is so dumb. Tourists who pay that fee once or twice won’t be deterred but locals who have to pay it every day sure will.. Instead of such a dumb policy, why don’t they just change it to where only foreigners pay, and they have to reserve in advance? It would help the overpopulation of tourists if they had to get a reservation for day passes

[@kueller917]

I think Amsterdam's more recent policies at least have the right idea on tourism. It's not banning people outright but limiting the industry behind it. Beautiful cities will always have a draw to visitors but let that market go unchecked and it'll snowball. Venice's historic island might be too far gone but the rest of the city is not free from the risk of displacement.

[@old_H]

How does Amsterdam limit those industries?

[@kueller917]

@@old_H Advertising campaigns was decreased, limits on how long you can sublet on Airbnb, restricting tourist buses from entering the city center, laws to curb vacant properties. Some others I've heard here and there but I'm not Dutch so I don't know all in detail.

[@ligametis]

@@kueller917 All of these solutions seem too protectionist. At this point why not just make a city ugly, then it will definitely help.

[@wasneeplus]

​​@@ligametis no, it definitely has to do with tourism. It's a crazy situation. I don't go to Amsterdam that often, but whenever I do, whichever time of year, the historic city centre is just flooded with tourists. Amsterdam really is desperate to try anything to turn the tide. As for why not make the city ugly? Well, you don't just destroy your own nation's cultural heritage, do you?

[@ligametis]

@@wasneeplus I think we should accept that European historical centres are pretty much theme parks now. They are outdated and not very usable for modern life. If you want historical vibe for yourself there are plenty dying smaller historical towns. Culture and heritage I think should be accessible for everyone and making it restricted doesn't sound fair. Especially if it is in a way that only richer can access it (less hotels).

[@RichardRenes]

I gather that something similar has happened to historic Prague: Almost every house that became vacant was bought up by Russian or Chinese real estate magnates so they could be rented out as an Air BnB. Result: most Czech people moved out of the city center, followed by most shops depending on those residents. Outside tourism season, the inner city of Prague is dead... and that's a shame...

[@L4wr3nc3810]

As a prague citizen, i confirm this. During covid, the center was basically a ghost town

[@TheFairyGothmother]

​@@L4wr3nc3810 I visited during covid and off season as I live in Leipzig Germany. I quite enjoyed the quiter city though I know it hurt business alot losing the tourism. It was much nicer not having big crowds everywhere.

[@JC-nl3nh]

its almost like this was the goal when they won ww2 and started dissecting the west, now the money printer rich chinese and asians buy our collapsed nations rubble...

[@JoshuaFagan]

I remember when I was in Venice (Venezia) in 2019, I stumbled into a free tour of the city. The guide was charming and informative, but he also talked about the rush of young people leaving the city, and he lamented how crowded the city had become with tourists. Such are the paradoxes and contradictions of Venice.

[@juliusnepos6013]

Oh Joshua, you are here too

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

I’ve been to Venice (historic area) twice for a total of 3 days. One day I walked most of Venice and went to the other side of the island. The tourist areas are all in the first half of the island nearer the train station and up to San Marco square. Step away from the main “streets” and you often see locals. Go to the other side of the island and it’s entirely locals. On the other half of the island, It was interesting to see parks with grass, a few single family homes, large beautiful walkways, very quiet, etc. I imagine a bigger share of historic Venice was like this before the rush of tourist in the past few decades.

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

Well if it isn't the CIA bot . Had china crumbled yet !

[@Corksy]

I agree. I did that too, much quieter. I also ate at a small restaurant. At noon a big family of locals came to eat there. Very different atmosphere altogether.

[@urbanfile3861]

I used to go often to Venice when I was a student, more than 20 years ago, and live as 'insider' with other students who used to live in Venice. I think your anlasys is quite correct, over all the difficult to live in a city packed with tourists in the narrow alleys and many points you can't avoid (there are only three bridges on Canal Grande. Four if we take Calatrava's bridge in account). I'll add another key factor. Houses in Venice are 'uncomfortable'. They're tiny, humid, without lifts. A house in a horrible '50s grey flat in mainland is way more attractive if you're aiming for a more comfortable way of living.

[@Gryphonisle]

An overlooked problem with Venice is international retailers who are gutting storefronts, ripping out all the ancient ground floor architectural detail in order to create a white-out retail space of no particular charter. When we visited in 2012 this was limited to a few crowded areas. Looking at videos and google street view recently though I’ve seen it’s spread significantly. What makes Venice Venice is being stripped away without apparent notice.

[@falconeshield]

Geez I wonder why it's getting stripped of historical areas for money for the past 2 years. *looks at government* It is a mystery

[@gokce9521]

I'm a student in Venice and even for us the island is very difficult to live in, housing can cost twice as much as Mestre and most students commute daily from there to study.

[@RakirakkHighlights]

What do you expect to live in the center of the historical city and pay few euros? All over the world the center city is not for everyone man 😂

[@aquaarietta]

Visited Venice for a day in early November last year. We had to go to the mainland to go to the public transit system's lost and found to pick up something we left on the bus from the airport to the mainland the night before. It was nice to see the more quaint and peaceful side of the mainland (at least where we went) as a result. When it comes to over-tourism, I think limits on the number of tourists per day is absolutely necessary. Even in a somewhat low tourist season as early November, it was still too crowded in the evening. I hope as much can be done to preserve the city for the future because despite the many touristy areas, there is still much beautiful and historic places in quieter areas.

[@tommasodalmaso]

The mainland (Specifically Mestre & Marghera) are not really quaint and peaceful... They might be against tourist, sure, but it is the biggest drug area of the country, with incredibly high crime rate for a city in Northern Italy...

[@ranocchiasimpatica]

Thanks for making this video! I live in mestre and go to school in venice, you explained venice's situation really well. The problem is that our local administration keeps prioritizing tourists over residents. If some of you reading this want to visit our city, remember to be respecful towards the environment, the public spaces and the residents!

[@lottecooper4370]

What kind of school is it if I may ask? It seems surprising to me that you don't go to school in mestre because I thought no matter had to visit the historic town of Venice for everyday business- are there any special schools in Venice?

[@ranocchiasimpatica]

@@lottecooper4370 well it is true that i go to a particular kind of high school -i don't know if you'r familiar with the school system, but there are lots of different kinds of high school, so you don't choose the subject singularly but you choose a kind of school and you study the whole set of subjects that comes with it, mine is liceo classico but i go to a different one which is called liceo classico europeo - but there is plenty of students that go to school in venice, sometimes because they live on the islands around, sometimes because the bus trip to venice is still faster that the trip to the opposite side of mestre, sometimes because there is a school in venice with a better reputation, sometimes because they actually want to go to school in the historical centre (other name we use to distinguish water venice from land venice and minor islands) to be able to live it, which is my case. After this choice, the majority of my friends lives in 'real' venice and i'm always hanging out there and actually getting to live it.

[@ranocchiasimpatica]

Also, during the day there is an enormous afflux of commuters from mestre and other places in the region towards venice. People with normal jobs can't afford to live there but keep working there because it's easy to get there: from the centre of mestre it is a 15 minutes bus trip, from the nearest cities such as padova and treviso it is respectively 20 and 30 mins by train - you understand the vital importance of public transit to keep the city living!!!!! Also if you were interested about schools, there is also two major universities in venice -ca' foscari specialized in humanities, that has a campus in mestre with the scientific courses, and IUAV which is an architecture and design university. There's a musical conservatory too. These create lots of commuters, and also lots of students living for a couple of years here, although the city life at night remains pretty much dead

[@serenissimarespublicavenet3945]

@@ranocchiasimpatica Non avrei mai pensato di trovare qualcun'altro dell'europeo nei commenti di un video su youtube

[@ranocchiasimpatica]

@@serenissimarespublicavenet3945 oddio no vabbè di che classe sei? Io 5ce

[@minkyone]

I'm a Venetian. Thank you so much for putting my city's problems on the spotlight!

[@myasmindandbodymeditation2694]

your city was absolutely splendid!!!! 🖤❤️💛🖤❤️💛

[@minkyone]

@@myasmindandbodymeditation2694 Glad you liked it

[@gamermapper]

I absolutely love the Venetian flag!

[@strategicgamingwithaacorns2874]

This is why historically significant cities such as Venice should impose legal tourism caps to prevent the historic city from turning into a theme park.

[@ashwinnmyburgh9364]

That's a great idea honestly. The sheer amount of tourists tend to do a lot of damage to historical sites anyway. Limiting the number of tourists would be an all around good thing to me.

[@ligametis]

Historical towns are inherently theme parks due to how much it costs to maintain them and how inefficient there are for locals besides rich people who don't have things to do.

[@dekippiesip]

​@@ligametis they literally are. What are castles and other historical buildings than just theme parks? You pay to enter the building, you queue before entering it. Then you go through a set of sites worth seeing within the building, take some nice pictures and there you go. This works like an assembly line, just with people instead of products. And the revenue is used to be able to renovate the buildings that would otherwise wither away.

[@whaaat3632]

Then only the rich will be able to afford it. That's the way it always goes.

[@cloudkitt]

That doesn't sound anything less than a theme park, tbh. Now there's just a line outside the ride. Not that it would be without benefits of course, just that I think that would make it look *more* like an amusement park

[@emmythemac]

A similar thing is happening in Santa Fe; gorgeous city with a fascinating history, yet very few locals can afford to live in the historic city center.

[@blushdog]

Santa Fe has tourism? lol

[@minecrafttroller1000]

@@blushdog that’s literally all it’s really famous for

[@seltonk5136]

It's famous ? ​@@minecrafttroller1000

[@brandonrico6223]

Only the rich live close to downtown, all the poorer people live in the regular part of the city. And housing is way too expensive 🫰

[@ModernRedneck13]

What has happened to this beautiful city is such a shame. It's been at the top of my "to visit" list since I first played Assassin's Creed II back in 2009, but now I'm torn on whether I even want to go there because I don't want to be another contributor to the over-tourism problem. At least we can always view it in photos and in that game.

[@burgerman101]

You could always go to the Venetian Casino Hotel in Las Vegas. They have little canals and shops so you won’t be contributing to over-tourism in Italy.

[@mdhazeldine]

I would definitely still go, but avoid summer.

[@bovo698]

Just avoid high season

[@soundscape26]

@@burgerman101 😂😂

[@SuWoopSparrow]

Even in 2009 there were too many tourists and the water was disgusting. Venice hasnt been the beautiful city people see in altered postcards for decades

[@PColumbus73]

I feel like I've heard the term 'Disnification' used for places like this. Where places like Historic Venice and Times Square start catering to tourists, so much so that they become a Disney-fied (Disnified?) version of themselves. Or where tourists overrun a place to where the thing that made them special has been diluted and becomes just another place to visit.

[@thecianinator]

There's a famous book about that, not just for places but for culture in general. Simulacra and Simulation.

[@alyssam1159]

Nobody lives in times sq. Before and after disnification it would make a horrible place to live.

[@fernthaisetthawatkul5569]

sounds like the last couple pages of ray bradbury's 'the concrete mixer' where ettil is imagining what mars will look like in a few years!

[@melonside4216]

It's very surprising how cold Venice actually is. People think it's like Savannah, GA or something but in reality it has a more similar climate to DC and Atlantic City, NJ

[@urbanfile3861]

People from the States often think Italy as a warm weather, which is true just for part of it. In general Northern Italy is colder and South is warmer

[@soundscape26]

@@urbanfile3861 Yes, Turin and Palermo have quite different climates.

[@g-man4744]

Fun fact Venice is at the same latitude as Minneapolis, MN, 45 degrees North.

[@fsbayer]

There's a major factor you missed, which explains why the decline started in the late 19th century: changing expectations of living space and understanding of overcrowding. All across the Western world, until the early-mid 20th century, it wasn't at all uncommon for poorer households (with such households in some cases being as large as 8-10 people) in major urban centres to live in a single small one-room dwelling with no amenities other than a stove, with bathrooms shared between multiple such dwellings. No one would find that even remotely acceptable today; dwellings are usually expected to sleep at most two people per bedroom, to each have their own bathroom, and generally also a separate kitchen and living area. So a building that may have housed up to 40 people per floor back in 1871 now probably houses no more than 4 people per floor. Of course not all dwellings were quite that crowded to begin with, but the fact of the matter is, the maximum acceptable occupancy of many if not most residences in the historic centre of Venice is much, much lower now than it was a century ago, and that obviously affects how many people live there regardless of whether or not they actually want to.

[@warrenlemay8134]

Same thing has apparently happened in Prague's historic center with an over-proliferation of tourism that has pushed local residents out. Adam Something did a great video on the issue recently. In the United States, there are some cities dealing with this to varying degrees. I live in Covington, Kentucky, and we are starting to have issues with Airbnbs and other tourism uses that are replacing affordable housing and businesses for local residents, due to the city's honestly quite great historic downtown having an increasing appeal to tourists. The city recently put a moratorium on Airbnbs and other short-term rentals after my neighbors pushed back hard on a proposed Airbnb in a former apartment building in my neighborhood. Now, the city is trying to bring all Airbnbs into compliance with their regulations - including the unregulated Airbnbs that existed before the city started regulating them, and Airbnbs that since have started operating without permit, despite requiring one. Though they do bring benefits to communities and cities, Airbnbs and other tourism uses need to be balanced with other considerations to ensure that communities are sustainable, resilient, accessible, and functional.

[@Szydencer]

What are the famous tourist attractions of Covington, KY?

[@bismarckinontario5652]

@@SzydencerCincinnati, Ohio.

[@brianmiller5444]

@@Szydencer An attractive Victorian riverfront downtown, as the OP explicitly and clearly said. Not everyone needs a banal Disneylandish "attraction" to enjoy visiting a place.,

[@yungrichnbroke5199]

Every city talking about wanting to build up their waterfront yet here is a place that actually has a waterfront that is magically drawing tourists lol

[@peepeetrain8755]

AirBnBs are gonna be the death of cities. Countless of beach towns in Australia have already been destroyed buy it. Locals priced out as AirBnB is a far better income than rent. We need regulation, now.

[@joelleerickson2642]

As someone who loves to travel, I’m often unsure of how one can responsibly visit these places. Considering we have plenty of examples of what not to do (Venice, Barcelona, etc.), could you do a video on how cities can responsibly balance tourism and residents?

[@myra0224]

Clean up after yourself is a big one, there's enough trash bins around and otherwise you take it with you to your hotel or place you're staying at. Secondly, don't act as if you own the place and let the locals go around their day instead of walking and standing in their way. Thirdly, try to support smaller local businesses instead of the shops with all the same items they bought in bulk for 1/10 of the price they're selling it for at most. And lastly, from what I can come up with, be respectful. I know everyone wants that perfect photo, but a lot of infrastructure and architecture gets completely destroyed because tourists broke it (even if it's not specifically "well f*ck, I have this statue's hand in mine now" but it's very fragile and it can break over time because of wrong handling). This is coming from someone who temporarily lives in Bruges, a very touristy and historical city in Belgium. Tourists are so annoying and I always try my best to not be like them when I go somewhere because once you've experienced the worst, you'll do your best to be as far as them as possible as a tourist yourself

[@komyn27]

@@myra0224 I second your answer, especially the buying from local businesses part. I actually bought a bauta (the most traditional style of venetian mask) on Amazon before going to Venice. While walking the streets of Venice a year later, I actually found the shop I'd bought from has a storefront. They're a local business who had been making masks for decades. We had a fun conversation via a translation app, and the shopkeeper was thrilled that I'd used his mask for a costume at an event in the US. He explained that my mask had been made by 4 locals craftsmen, including himself, with each person specializing in a part of the process. Moral of the story: When you buy from the locals, there's a good chance you're supporting way more than the shopkeeper. "Where was this made?" is one of my fave questions to ask when I travel now.

[@gamermapper]

It's better to go to places that are "hidden gems" and get much less tourists

[@gamermapper]

It's also better to avoid air travel when possible. It's not really responsible to use planes a lot because they destroy the environment, which in turn also destroys these cities.

[@theonebman7581]

Honestly, I think these are my favourite kind of videos, and not just cause I'm a history/culture nerd lmao I think urban planning on YT is so oversaturated with American-centric content (which, is to be expected given the fact the majority of cfeators live in the US and have a predominantly American audience who cares for American issues, and it's not necessarily a bad thing) it's just refreshing to see content focusing on other regions and cultures as well. My favourite individual videos of yours have been those tackling Europe, Asia and Latin America, regions that are almost always ignored and forgotten and almost never enter the public minds, especially the last two. Ofc, I love your other videos too, especially those on the history of American cities, it's just nice to have a little refreshing change for once :)

[@yungrichnbroke5199]

Not only is it to American - Canadian - centric, it’s far too cynical in general. The name “City Beautiful,” in itself, invokes feelings of hope and joy.

[@candidobizzotto2038]

Please consider the FACT that YT gives suggestions in YOUR language and in the SEARCH language. Sometimes I'm very stressed because it's hard to find contents in Italian and French even with search in these languages. So get used to that. You'll have to learn Bulgarian to escape from this "US domination". Relax and use this abundance of information and learn how to improve your search.

[@theonebman7581]

@@candidobizzotto2038 I'm not even from the US, I'm actually a native Spanish speaker living in what you guys call "the third world" I just prefer consuming English-language content because it's better in quality, and I prefer English in general

[@gamermapper]

@@candidobizzotto2038 too bad there's a lot of people who mainly or only speak English because of colonialism. For example in Africa, while there's a lot of local langauges, most content is in English because they don't feel like their languages are important enough. Or for Aotearoa or Ireland, where their native language is only used by a minority. Therefore a lot of people are forced to interact with English speaking content and have no other choice.

[@lzh4950]

@@gamermapper In Singapore quite a lot of signs are only in English probably as its seen as too troublesome to expect them to be in all our 4 official languages (English & the mother tongues of the country's 3 biggest ethnic groups). I read there was an uproar when Tamil (1 of the mother tongues) was replaced with Japanese on our airport signs in 2008, supposedly because Indians (1 of the country's 3 biggest ethnic groups) were better in English than Japanese tourists. Also among the official languages, Malay is recognized as the national language as its spoken by people native to the region, so our national anthem is in that language. However with it not being the mother tongue of most of the population (of whom Malays are 14% of it, while Chinese are 74% & Indians are 8%), some of us have also lamented that many people can recite the anthem after singing it daily at school, but may not remember the meaning so well, or may mispronounce some words

[@NelsenMotorsports]

As someone else mentioned Colorado ski towns, the same is happening elsewhere in the US too. On the east coast is any island town; Tybee, St. Simons, and Amelia Island owners have all turned efficiency apartments into short-term rental units. The city is collecting a bed tax from these, but this is now bringing in so much more revenue than that of the hotels that they have no incentive to bring residents back to their island towns. Most folks in essential jobs are forced to commute across a causeway that is 5 miles or more to their jobs plus the distance once they reach the island.

[@thegrey8843]

I live in Colorado in the United States and it’s basically the same thing that’s happening around the world. I got a job offer to work for the City of Dillon and because of high rents and the proximity to Breckenridge, I had to deny the position. The job is still available almost a year later. My friend is a teacher in Estes Park and she makes $40k a year and lives in a converted shed in someone’s back yard. Eat the rich.

[@Banom7a]

reminded of a friend of mine who work in Estes but they have to commute from Loveland daily that also mean if the weather is bad they cant go to work.

[@prasad530]

It really has nothing to do with the rich per se, it's a basic supply and demand problem caused by government. Most communities, through zoning, do not allow adequate housing to be built. Everyone is a NIMBY. You can't blame people with money for wanting to live or visit in some of the most beautiful places in the world, but you can blame local governments for not allowing more building.

[@niccilefevre]

​@@prasad530who do you think is lobbying to control the government? Op is correct.

[@myra0224]

​@@prasad530 Continuing to build will never solve the problem. Forcing to renovate instead of letting houses rot where they stand, and making them affordable housing instead of constantly catering towards the high-middle-class and upper class would do a lot more. We don't have a zoning issue here in Belgium as it is in the US, but we want to preserve that little amount of nature we still have in this little country, thus continuing to build will just leave us with no green spaces and no fresh air to breathe

[@mimipeahes5848]

@@prasad530 But I can blame rich vultures for buying multiple houses they never plan to live or vacation in just to sell them. More and more housing is used to generate wealth for the already rich instead of actually housing people.

[@ninas6310]

Same thing is happening in Croatia, especially Dubrovnik. It is so sad to see that locals can't live where they grew up because the prices are awful and the income is trash

[@Pollicina_db]

The worst thing is that many people go to Dubrovnik because of game of thrones and ignore the rich culture the city has and means to us Croats. They only see it as a disney land got city. I was also shocked how many people were walking in bikinis in the middle of the day in the old city, same thing with split. Nek se takvi turisti j@ebu iskreno.

[@guerreiro943]

Same in Lisbon

[@earthdog7900]

In the 90s I read in a book "Venice stopped being a city and started being a museum." This is not new, it just kept on that road. I wish I could remember where I read this.

[@notroll1279]

I spent a week in Venice on a home exchange ten years ago. It was mid-November so tourism was very present but far from peak. To prepare our meals, we did grocery shopping several times which was quite an experience. Initially, we tried some small supermarkets near the Biennale area. All those were narrow and cramped to the point of claustrophobia. Since we had a weekly pass of the local public transport carrier Actv, we then grabbed our shopping bags and took a scenic ferry ride out to Lido island, where there were more convenient shops and an outdoor market with a fantastic view of the historic inner city. One of the main obstacles to living in old Venice is the increased frequency of floodings. In many houses, we've seen the ground floor (1st floor in American counting) empty because living or running a shop there would mean repeated loss of inventory to the immediate flooding or to slow rot due to the extreme moisture in the walls. I guess the moisture will also creep upwards in the brickwork. That might explain the sharp increases of rents - if the rents of the habitable flats don't cover the enormous cost of repair and maintenance, the building isn't financially viable any more.

[@lucadipaolo1997]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="64">1:04</a> this map shows the Metropolitan City of Venice (in other words, the Province of Venice); the city itself is way smaller.

[@urbanfile3861]

Anyway Venice municipality is quite big, with over 400 sq km (for a comparison New York City is 781 sq km, all the five districrs) and get the whole lagoon, the strips of land enclosing it, such as Lido, and the mainland part with Mestre and Marghera

[@TheBann90]

It shows the Province of Venice. Deffinately not the metropolitan city.

[@emanuelepiotusa638]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="58">0:58</a> a correction: the map in the video doesn't show the "comune" or the city of venice, but its province. It's quite confusing because the province is now called, "metropolitan city of Venice" but in fact it's not the city boundary but the one of the province of Venice

[@Petko_09]

In Bulgaria we have a similar situation with the city Nesebur It is very historical with many architectural sites to visit and many museums But most of its population lives not on the peninsula but in the mainland city called suny beach

[@nsahandler]

If you were v wondering, he gets to the part about landlordship at @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="360">6:00</a> It always has been and always will be landlords responsible for the pricing out of locals

[@mistermist634]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="128">2:08</a> "Italy is made up of 20 regions, kind of similar to US states" most American statement ever uttered

[@soundscape26]

Yes, they have nowhere near the same competences. They are similar in that they are administrative divisions, not much else.

[@portinhob]

I'm pretty sure he's Canadian. Interestingly, Canada has provinces, kind of similar to US states. :)

[@CityBeautiful]

haha, yes, I'm aware of their differences. That statement is for those from the US that don't always realize that other countries have sub-national divisions.

[@Game_Hero]

@@CityBeautiful tells a lot about the education system of the US.

[@MuddyRavine]

I think the explanation and comparison is warranted, especially in Italy's case, due to linguistic issues. The Italian word regione is very close to the English word region, and while their meanings are similar, they aren't the same word. To explain that regione has an administrative and political meaning and is not simply a general area is very useful.

[@leightonmoreland]

It's the same problem in small mountain towns in Colorado. Paradise gets overrun and loved to death. Some areas now have lotteries for camping and there are limits on daily entrances in national parks. All of the beautiful mountain towns that people love to visit (Vail, Crested Butte, Durango, Telluride, Breckenridge) are supported by a workforce that can't afford to live there and doesn't have anywhere to live. So people make do, I know of people living in rented out closets. That problem grows like a virus affecting the surrounding communities that were once affordable. For every Crested Butte there is a Gunnison that is now unaffordable. The young people leave and the communities lose their continuity, the ones that are left are financially strung out or working in a pot shop living paycheck to paycheck. Let alone the affects of the opium epidemic.

[@vonakenyon7981]

It probably doesn't help that the cops there have a reputation that is so bad I would hesitate to even drive through it. Imagine if Colorado turned it around and became known for helpful well-trained cops who are fair and reasonable.

[@Bandwagons]

Watching this video from my apartment in the French Quarter of New Orleans, where I have to go to the suburbs to get any regular goods like normal clothes or furniture because every store caters to tourists... Where I made sure to bulk up on food before the Mardi Gras crowds came because I won't be able to get into any grocery stores or restaurants for two weeks... Where over 80% of the homes are empty most of the year because they're either used as second/third homes or STRs, to the point that they're considering closing our local school because no one can live in the area. Yeah, this hit home.

[@liamtahaney713]

Was just in Venice last month. Was very nice in the off season. Surprisingly quiet.

[@benb2794]

I’m studying in Bologna for the semester and I just visited Venice a couple of weeks ago. It was shockingly dead after <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="540">9:00</a> PM. I couldn’t find a restaurant open for dinner outside of the most touristy spots in the city center. It didn’t feel like a real city, especially compared to Bologna. It was a complete ghost town outside of San Marco

[@urbanfile3861]

Try Campo San Polo next time. Venetian students night spot

[@benb2794]

@@urbanfile3861 my new rule is that every time I visit a new city, I’ll stay near the local university. That way there’ll always be something happening at night

[@tommasodalmaso]

It just depends where you are, the city has lot of residential areas. Try Campo San Polo, Santa Margherita, Strada Nova...

[@minecrafttroller1000]

On the mestre side (the historic side is santa Lucia, and mestre is the mainland) there’s a hostel less than a block from the train station and most people who go to uni in santa Lucia Venice go to the hostel to party.

[@TesterAnimal1]

I lived and worked in Mestre for a year when I was a young software dev for the freight industry. Used to visit Venice every weekend. It’s amazing when you get to learn its maze-like layout!

[@cvl14]

One note: what you refer to as "the full community of Venice" is the province of Venice (now called metropolitan city of Venice), which includes different minor cities and has ~850.000 residents; anyway, it is true the smaller "comune" of Venezia, which has ~250.000 residents, extends on the mainland and that most of those 250.000 Venetians do not leave in the historic centre.

[@myasmindandbodymeditation2694]

i was in san marco venice at the end of january this year. it was absolutely divine! we had perfect weather and there were no crowds whatsoever. i’ve not been there during high season, but while i was there, the prices were completely reasonable. also, i love winter, so the cool weather was perfect! it was positively my favorite trip/place ever!!

[@abahamalama3954]

Hey City Beautiful! Loving your videos lately. Have you ever made a video on the best college campus in America from a transit, walkability, biking access, trees lining sidewalks, low car density zones, no big parking lots taking up land, and other fundamental systems?

[@pq98yfhorevwf]

Madison, WI hits the nail on a lot of this for UW Madison

[@CityBeautiful]

I have a video on college towns scheduled to be released this spring!

[@Ben1bx]

West-Lafayette-Lafayette, home of PurdueU is pretty dense in the dual-core downtown

[@pmkrock]

@@pq98yfhorevwf Madison is ❤❤❤

[@beebcycles]

Check out CityNerd, he just did exactly that a couple weeks ago.

[@shutupnora]

you're right, I have never seen a video about Venice that mentioned Mestre, where I live! you're literally the FIRST non italian I have seen talking about this.

[@Reaperman4711]

Let me save you about @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="85">1:25</a> : 50,000 people actually live in historic Venice. Not nobody.

[@fxturist8534]

A few weeks ago I had to make a slideshow about tourism and tourist bubbles. After making that presentation the answer to the thing seemed really easy. It's not just because people had to move out for better jobs, but also because the historic city is a place made mainly for tourists and it's what tourists are supposed to see. The mainland is a place to either relax during the tourist season or just for other citizens (who aren't interested in tourism) to find a job.

[@jandraelune1]

Just last yr, the entire historic section of the city was under water by at least 15in's above walkable area. Lots of temp solutions were put up like using anchored tables as walk ways.

[@doobiedoo5450]

Long time subscriber to Nebula. It’s fantastic. Best streaming value available, imho.

[@vespasian1695]

Visited Venice in January, not gonna lie me and my partner were never so quiet on our trip in Italy, it’s breathtaking you literally stay speechless from how beautiful and peaceful it is

[@flavoursofsound]

I’ve visited Venice twice. First in 2008 as a student during February when it was quiet researching the architecture and engineering behind it, but at the time I didn’t speak a word of Italian. Since then I started to be concerned about the slow deterioration of historic Venice due to sea level rises, greed, over-tourism, etc, and I had originally vowed never to visit since. That was until the pandemic. Seeing what Venice looked like from KZbin videos filmed during lockdown was absolutely eye opening. It was a bittersweet moment, on the one hand the locals finally got their city back and its beauty could really be appreciated, but on the other a city so dependent on tourists had no tourists and was struggling financially. Knowing I would never ever see Venice this quiet in my lifetime, and that I since learned Italian and could actually speak it, I decided to visit again in August 2020. It was soooo much nicer! Whilst there were tourists visiting again like myself, it was not oversubscribed like before, and it felt like the quality of tourists was a lot better - many would make the effort to converse in Italian, also they would treat it more like a city than a theme park, also visiting lesser known parts of the island. I actually felt very welcomed here unlike in 2008. That was just my observation anyway, but I’d like to know what someone who lives around Venice actually thinks in case I’m wrong.

[@elipotter369]

Thank you for your thoughtful,.informative and interesting comment.

[@taridean]

Visited Venice in summer 2017. Although it was tick off the bucket list, the place was jam packed with us tourist it made me wonder how people actually lived there. It was uncomfortable moving around. The funny thing is I had a better experience visiting a little town north west of Venice called Bassano Del Grappa. I looking forward to visit there again than Venice.

[@komyn27]

I visited Venice last year, and I've been seriously considering moving there. I was fully expecting all the locals to react poorly to the idea of a new Italian citizen (who doesn't even speak the language yet) moving to their city. Instead, I was enthusiastically encouraged to move there with multiple people offering tips on where I should rent so I'd have some peace from the tourists, what restaurants cater to locals, etc. It seems obvious after watching this video that the Venetians know their city needs more residents. They've historically had a reputation of turning their nose up to everyone looking to move to Venice, but I think that's being replaced with a desperation to bring anyone willing to treat the city like a real home to their islands.

[@nccamsc]

The title is a lie.

[@riseuplight]

Technically it's misleading

[@SmallBROODJE777]

Yeah

[@TurdBoi666]

​@@riseuplight it's a low, there is no way around it

[@Bramioux]

More than a lie, for me, it's a classic clickbait title

[@ducis3446]

i visited italy last year and loved rome because i was in a more residential section of the city and wanted to experience life as a local. so on top of the usual touristy things to do, i shopped for groceries, ate at local establishments, and had espressos at espresso bars in that area. i went on a day trip to venice and found that even the smallest and tightest alley always had a number of tourists walking through it. sometimes, you want to experience a city authentically but it seems like venice solely caters to tourists now at the expense of the residents who still live in the historic district.

[@aviadilo]

I've spent a total of six weeks in Venice in three stays. There are plenty of areas where you see few tourists and can see local community life around you. You made a day trip - I suggest spending at least a week in Venice next time and exploring the city at leisure!

[@giorgiodalbano3638]

I lived in Venice for two years in the historic centre, not far from Giardini (Biennale, etc). Is probably the most lively city in Europe for my opinion. Not just beauty, but if you know well the places also cheap. There is a University with plenty of students that can afford the cost of living in a good way, and tourists are not a problem, because they are always moving on the same paths (San Marco, Rialto, Santa Lucia and back. Many venitians leave for living in Mestre (Not historical Venice), but many others are still living the city. So, the problem of Venice is the same like many other cities in the world. The historical centre is under a process of gentrification, not always negative like in the case of Venice, and people from the centre move to the periphery (Mestre, Merghera), because is a bit cheap than the centre.

[@carlomontecarlo7881]

Hmm, there are people living in the historic core still. In fact, there are more than 45'000 people living in Venice. It is true the city has lost tens of thousands of people since the 1970s, but you still have families with kids, university students and professionals working in some industries living in Venice. It tends to be a place for the wealthy and many may not spend the whole year in the city. I'm from the region and a part of my family live / has lived in Venice.

[@vlt96]

I visited Venice, not because it's a tourist place, but because of its unique infrastructure. Most people don't care about that, they just want the fancy pictures, the boat rides and the instagramable restaurants with awful food. The island is probably the only city in the world where everything you need can be done on foot, and services run on boats. It's incredibly unique and over time people will stop visiting for other reasons. I'm just a wanderer and Venice is the absolute perfect city for just wandering around. In 2 days, I have not seen a single car (or bike), and every street corner had something that made you go "hey, that's cool". Of course, many other European cities now have an art budget for everything new, and it's a similar experience, just not as dense as Venice. I also expected Venice to be much more expensive than it actually was. If you look at real estate prices, they don't reflect the fact that literally every single building in Venice feels like living on the main plaza in any other city in the world. Food is cheaper than some mid-sized Western/Northern European cities and the only thing that felt hard to get was drinking water. Banning airbnbs might fix Venice's issues overnight. Our experience in the city would have been really similar if the public ferries weren't such a pain in the ass and made it easier to just travel to the main station and then to the mainland at any time of day. You NEED to stay in the island of Venice if you want to get the 2 AM pub experience there, which makes the entire city feel like a big hostel, with everyone just walking around drunk on random streets. I've never felt safer on a dark street corner in the middle of the night, simply because those get a lot of foot traffic 24/7.

[@myra0224]

I didn't read everything you said, but I can assure you a lot of people go there for the architecture and culture spread around the city

[@tracyaskew1651]

My dear friend used to live on the lagoon in Venice. I stayed there for a year with her. She eventually moved to Tuscany. I do have to admit after living there for a year, by the 2nd month I was bored. I much preferred Sicily or Florence. There was always something to do or see.

[@ma.2099]

Buddy of mine is buying a home in New York just to use as rental property for $7000 a month. We live out of state. Things like this should be strictly regulated. One home per family with crazy amounts of regulation on businesses and hotels. Homes can be rented out only if your primary residence. The idea of pricing people out of an area, especially those native to that region is insane. Only a matter of time until this happens everywhere. Own nothing and like it.

[@jmccoomber1659]

It would be absolute governmental overreach to legislate how many homes American citizens can own. Punishing smart investors who can afford to buy rental properties that earn lucrative incomes is ridiculous, Comrade "Waaahhh! I grew up here so I should always get to live here even if I can't earn enough to pay for it!" Following this line of thought, all workers should earn the same pay regardless of their skills. Penalizing smart, savvy investors because others are not as good at earning money or investing it is ludicrous. You sound like someone who thinks everyone should get a trophy - even the losing teams - because "it's not fair" that everyone is not equally rewarded regardless of their lack of abilities or talent. Following this line of thought, all workers should earn the same pay regardless of their skills, which harkens to "from each according to his skills to each according to his need" (failed) communism. Why would anyone bother to improve themselves if they can have everything smarter, more skilled people get without working for it? Or do you just think the government should support everyone no matter how they live or what they're able to do or achieve? Your argument is completely illogical, as arguments for complete government control of everyone and everything always are. History has proven that when governments control everything, only politicians, bureaucrats and oligarchs benefit; everyone else lives in poverty. Sounds like you just want to bring everyone down to your own level of ineptitude.

[@ma.2099]

@@jmccoomber1659 I ain’t reading any of that but good for you to have grown in a time that you were able to get your home. But now “waaaah protect my property and being able to take advantage of everyone else waaaahhhh” see how that works both ways? Incredible.

[@ma.2099]

@@jmccoomber1659 and it’s great that you take so much of who I am based on very short KZbin comment then go on to speak of ineptitude. Your reach is astounding. Perhaps don’t live on the internet.

[@baronvonjo1929]

Yall both are weird and this took a turn

[@ma.2099]

@@baronvonjo1929 you are strange for even commenting.

[@aoilpe]

When I was working in the Restaurant-Car between Basel/CH and Venice/I and had a overnight stay for 22h ,I’ve NEVER been in Mestre and never left the Islands of Venice. There are no more grocery stores in the center- just souvenir shops… And there are not a lot of restaurants open in the evening,because all the tourists have left.

[@NicholasGray]

As someone who lived 30 minutes from Venice, this is a bit misleading. The commune di Venezia is not the city of Venice. The commune is similar to a US county. Mestre is its own city, as are dozens of other smaller downs that are within the Commune of Venice.

[@AndrewL31413]

I actually noticed there were quite a lot of students when I was there, even many foreign ones at university. And we were never out of reach of a super market either.

[@mdhazeldine]

I've only been once, at that was as a kid back in 1993. Even then it was crowded, so God knows what it's like now. It's basically a very pretty, expensive theme park with many many many hotels and restaurants.

[@Seathal]

Barcelona, my hometown, is absolutely headed this way too.

[@acrossthevioletsky]

Maybe not the channel to ask this, but physically speaking, how could Venice be saved? Would it be possible to be preserved by, for instance, turning the surrounding water into a lake, or removing the water altogether?

[@ndemers]

It must be possible, but it would be a gigantic undertaking. The Dutch would be the people to ask, they've had centuries of experience fighting against the sea...

[@giorgiodalbano3638]

Maybe you need to know something about MOSE

[@jacekgarbowicz616]

Venice is basically not really one city but a group of 3 cities, which are Old Venice (where the canals and almost all major attractions are), Mestre (where most people live and most modern buildings are) and Lido (a thin strip of land home to less than than 10% of the population) under one municipal government. Old Venice has gotten so over touristy and is also the only area that is sinking. As result Mestre has become the modern heart of Venice as most people and non-tourism industries have moved there or to suburbs outside municipal limits. Old Venice had about 140,000 residents in 1980 and now only has about 60,000 because of sinking and over-tourism.

This blew my mind! I’m from a town on a border between Slovenia and Italy and go to Mestre regularly as it’s one of the closer airports to me (2h train ride). I’ve been to mainland Venice hundreds of times, and the historical bit only a handful of times (too many tourists)m and yet if I hear “Venice”, I will always think of the canals, I don’t think I’d ever registered the fact that “mainland Venice” is Venice as well, as stupid as it sounds. i think I’d always assumed it’s similar to how they say Newark is a New York airport, even though it’s in New Jersey. You thought me something new today!

[@moço_aquele]

Being from Portugal, I can relate to a lot of stuff mentioned in this video.

[@anadalet9885]

I know very well Venice because I live in Veneto region. It is due to the fact that Venice is a city on a lagoon that lots of people moved to Mestre, no cars and difficult movements make people leaving the historical city. Increasing tourism is not the main cause. But Mestre, despite the increasing importance is only an awful suburb, with no interesting places, no history and a horrible climate. Most of the people spend their free time in the three malls in the outskirts: Auchan, Valecenter and Nave de Vero, they are quite big, with famous shops and many restaurants, that’s due to the lack of attractive of Mestre and the avoid of Venice by Venetians people. Wealthy people Who moved from Venice most live in smaller towns like Mogliano

[@supertrooper6879]

Mogliano is DEAD too. There is absolutely nothing to do. Horrible place.

[@anadalet9885]

@@supertrooper6879 you need to come to Cadore, if Mogliano is dead, here is the apocalypse. Belluno is dead too

[@agi1041]

Mestre has lots of problems around Via Piave near the station. African drug dealers are making it an increasingly dangerous area. The locals had a large demonstration recently to try to regain the city.

[@johnmaxwell4072]

Same thing in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In ‘76, I worked as a busboy in a world famous restaurant and rented a studio apartment for $150 a month. No need for a car because everything you needed , groceries, doctors, dentists and clothing stores were all within a six to 10 block walk. Work was 4 blocks away. Same place now rents for over $1000 a month. Most services have been replaced with daiquiri and t shirt shops.

[@matthewconstantine5015]

I love Venice. I've been there twice. My wife & I always travel in the "off season," and even so, it could be quite crowded. I can't even imagine being there in the heights of tourist season. A question we often ask each other is "could we live here?" and of course, with Venice, the knee-jerk reaction was a resounding "yes!" But once we thought about it for a little bit, about the things you mentioned like groceries and such, and the absolute crush of tourists in the summer months, we realized that no, we could not live there. Of course, we're also totally priced out anyway, so it's not like it was a real option. Sadly, I feel the same about the city I'd most like to move to, Lisbon, Portugal. And don't get me started on NYC and Washington D.C.

[@urbanfile3861]

As you ask how crowded could Venice be during heights of tourist season, I just let you know that during the days of carnival or new years eve, local police make the most crowded streets one way only. For pedestrians!

[@matthewconstantine5015]

@@urbanfile3861, I believe it. When we were there last (5 years ago), we arrived on the last day of Carnival. Even staying far away from St. Mark's Square, the streets were packed with people. It was so funny to get up the next day and find the city almost empty.

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

I live in New Orleans. In a modern comfortable house. I completely understand why Venetian’s live in a nice modern suburb. I’ve lived in the French Quarter and grew up in an 1805 house. Central heat and air have a charm of their own.

[@daco3557]

The map you showed at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="65">1:05</a> is not the municipality of Venice, it’s the whole province

[@aguythatworkstoomuch4624]

And I thought Venice was only the island. Huh. Great video! Subbed👍🏻

[@blortmeister]

Tourism is so often seen as an economic good. But I think the way we currently view tourism doesn't take impacts like carbon footprints, commodification of culture, and , well, this into account. Tourism will really need to bed re-thought, because we simply cannot continue on this way.

[@brianmiller5444]

Don't worry. Climate Change is only beginning to hit. The world as we know it, with people jetting around the world and everything we eat or use produced 5,000 m miles away, will be gone. :) (Plus, it is likely we have reached peak oil. I don't care how many poisonous chemicals we pump into the ground, eventually the wells will begin running dry)

[@bristoled93]

Tourism does not cause much carbon footprint, I do a lot of walking.

[@brianmiller5444]

@@bristoled93 the mega cruise ships certainly have impacts though.

[@bristoled93]

@@brianmiller5444 I never been on a cruise.

[@SPscorevideos]

A couple of clarifications. What you show as the "boundary of Venice" are actually the boundary of the Metropolitan area of Venice (which is the new name of the former "province"), and it has more than 800.000 inhabitants. The actual boundaries of the city of Venice are way smaller, and include the historical Venice, all the islands in the lagoon, and just the part on mainland facing the bridge (and this area is the one with ~260.000 people in it). About trains: the different duration of Padua-Venice is not about regular/high-speed trains, but just if it's a train that makes all the stops or is an express. Being the cheaper local or the more expensive high-speed is unrelevant, with no stop it will always be 15 minutes (the same apply to Treviso). And not "many" trains stops in Mestre: *every single train* stops both in Mestre and Santa Lucia. There is no train stopping in just one of them, not even the Orient Express. :) Last thing: technically, Mestre and Marghera are two specific areas of the mainland, not the generic names of the northern and the southern part of it; people living in the mainland would never say they live in Mestre if they're not living in the specific area named Mestre.

[@Eunacis]

This is happening in St. Augustine FL too.

[@erejnion]

Honestly, it's not like other historic centers don't see similar trends too. The old buildings just aren't a good fit for living. Turning them into airbnbs, hotels, or even offices, is just plain better.

[@baronvonjo1929]

There is a place in Tennessee called Pigeon Forge and it's really popular with tourists. Great place to visit. I went maybe two years ago. But every single busy had a help wanted sign. I ended up asking a manager at a Domino's about it and she said with Covid and everything else all the cheap workers realized it wasn't worth it and left. They had to drive far away to work and now just don't see the point. I'm really curious how it's going there now

[@CorbinCCraig]

That is crazy. I went to a restaurant there and the manager said the same thing.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

A lot of people go to mainland Venice as Venice Mestre is a major rail interchange while the old city a branch line.There are modern houses in old Venice hidden away as I remember walking past some.

[@deathdoor]

They need to put a cap on the maximum rent that can be asked for current residents, and also offer the same cap for returning residents and their direct descendents.

[@supertrooper6879]

Too late. We have already left long time ago and honestly I don't want to come back. Today's Venice is not the Venice I was used to. Although I was born and lived there when I was a child, every time I come back I feel like a stranger and none of the people who lived in my calle still live there. They're all dead or moved away.

[@annarboriter]

Venetians have been expanding beyond the lagoon for centuries. A tour along the Brenta can expose visitors to the many mansions and estates constructed during the height of the republic

[@dosadoodle]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="395">6:35</a> -- My US-centric mindset says €17.64 per square meter is not bad for rent. That's 1000USD for a 500 square foot apartment, and that is competitive to what I pay in a metro area in the Midwest. If we compare it to more expensive metros in the US, that's a steal.

[@henningbartels6245]

can you compare your salary to an Italian?

[@dosadoodle]

@@henningbartels6245 Yes, I think it's reasonable to compare a lower-cost area of the US (Midwest metro) to what I'd expect to be a more expensive urban area of Italy. There's a reason I didn't note explicit numbers for more expensive areas of the US.

[@brianmiller5444]

@@henningbartels6245 A lot of people living in expensive US metros still earn lower wages, sadly. They eke out an existence on the fringe.

[@henningbartels6245]

@@brianmiller5444 for me it is hard to compare, since wages are usually higher (in dollar) and also rent in the US. But people pay less taxes in the States, but have little health care. Food is often more expensive in the US but energy and gas lower.

[@Delta2099]

I was surprised last year where the center looked like a shopping mall, the small stores were replaced by mattress stores and clothing stores you normally see in america

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Only 1500 euros? Damn I was expecting A LOT more. My rent in a "cheap" neighborhood of Portland went from $750 to $1550 in just a couple of years...man

[@henningbartels6245]

but you can drive to your supermarket or ikea

[@purplegill10]

​@@henningbartels6245 Portland, notably for the US, still has one of the best public transport systems in the country so driving isn't nearly as much of a necessity compared to most places in the US.

[@henningbartels6245]

@@purplegill10 imagine getting your billy shelf with a gondola home ...

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

@@henningbartels6245 I don't own a car. Public transit and walkable neighborhoods are good enough to where that's not a necessity.

[@henningbartels6245]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon public transit is a rather small boot in old town Venice.

[@antoniourbinasf]

If you go to Venice as tourist, I strongly recommend you stay at least one night in the old center to enjoy the city early morning when there are few tourists and the late night once they are gone. Also take the shuttle to the neighborhood islands of Murano, etc. I spent three nights to cover as much as I could. It was fantastic.

[@maan7715]

I knew about the tourism problem since I visited in 2004. But as bad as it is...I love the fact people can travel so easily nowdays and experience so much architecture and culture. I want to go back. Is it that bad to keep some historic city centres as tourism spots? Basically open air museums? I know tourists are hated, but they are just people experiencing culture, and are a major source of income.

[@enjoyslearningandtravel7957]

I think in my opinion, it’s good for people to learn about architecture, and culture, of course they can learn all the information on the Internet as well but I don’t think historic cities should become basically an open air museum and no locals can live there. Then it becomes sort of a theme park instead of a real, live operating city or town.

[@ndemers]

It is bad, because it means residents are pushed out, just like this video describes. And the people who hate tourists generally don't get to enjoy the money that tourism brings in, they just see noisy crowds and skyrocketing rents

[@brianmiller5444]

The massive cruise ships shown in the video are an ecological and well as sociological disaster. Sometimes what is fun is not good for us or our neighbors.

[@maan7715]

@@brianmiller5444 Oh I know about those, they are a menace everywhere. Huge amount of people flood towns from them when they arrive, they dont even eat out at the restaurants, they go back to the cruise ship to do that. When I was in venice, the horizon was just these giant ocean liners in the background. They should be limited or banned from places for sure.

[@lynzistringer]

I stayed in the historic area a few years back, and while I will admit it was gorgeous and everything I expected visually, I was a bit disappointed with how catered to tourists it was. Every restaurant (that I found, at least) was the same, and it was all overpriced tourist-friendly food. This isn’t just ignorance of Italy or Europe in general - I’ve been to many other places in Italy and continental Europe. This portion of Venice almost seemed like a Disney Italian themed district or something. Once we visited mainland Venice and then Verona on another day, the contrast was a bit more obvious.

[@tyrport]

I’m currently looking at my Murano made chandelier. Do not underestimate the amazing workmanship and skill of those artisans. Or the salesmanship which caused me to buy it. Only the gold merchants on the bridge in Florence rival them. 😂

[@DJunclepaul2nd]

You must have spent a lot lot of money on that. I looked at the Davide Penso glass seaweeds which are awesome, but I don't have that money to shove into my suitcase with the hope it will survive the trip home! Out hotel on Murano had a chandelier.. lovely!

[@oona3073]

Visited Italy and Venice in 2016 class trip and yep old Venice is so touristy and full of people it wasn't even really nice seeing the old buildings, sight seeing and such... Hence we wandered around streets without any tourist shops or sights where still some locals live and it was so much nicer to actually not having to worry if I'll be robbed or bumping to people all the time. I can totally understand why locals would move to mainland, even to tourists Venice isn't attractive

[@EricaGamet]

I stayed in Venice for three weeks in 2009... some of the locals said they were glad we came when we did... they feared the island will be under water in 50 years. I think at the time the flood control system still hadn't been started... but I heard that it's actually a reality now? I haven't kept up with all of that. I also seem to remember them telling us the red tape when buying or continuing to own property there made things less attractive. The upkeep to maintain the historic nature of buildings was forcing many folks to sell and flee. We had an apartment in the Dorsoduro and it was pretty quiet. We were there a week when we finally made it over to the Grand Canal and we thought, "Wow... so many tourists!" 🤣 We were there working, so we hadn't gone to see all the touristy stuff at that point. If anyone goes, be sure to visit St. Michele... the graveyard island... that and Burano were my favorites.

[@tommasodalmaso]

The flood control system is a joke. It blocks up until the level of high tides that have always been common in Venice. It does not protect against the exceptional ones that really make disasters like 2019. Took more than 10 years to build, 4B euros in corruption, one arrested mayor, just for something that doesn't serve any purpose. High tide is normal in Venice and it has been for centuries. And I agree, the city is like IKEA. Massive tourists routes, but you go outside of them and it's dead. Either way it is not going to be 50 years (or 40 now I guess), us locals know it well. It will take much more, and there is a plan anyway, we just need the money. Make every tourist pay 1 euro entrance, and in 5 years we can carry out that plan...

[@EricaGamet]

@@tommasodalmaso Oh that's awful about the flood system! I have to say that I didn't have a desire to go to Venice (I was there working on a small film) and at first I didn't like it. After 2 days I really fell in love with it! I lucked out that we arrived by bus and walked right to our apartment (in the Dorsoduro) and never saw the touristy parts for days. I liked the quiet living and hung out near the art school and in my favorite square mostly. I would gladly pay a tourist entrance fee to keep the city going. The flooding wasn't terrible in Dec 2009, but we did experience it... the way the locals deal with it is actually quite smart. I could live there and never visit the Grand Canal and be happy. Since we were so busy, the only view of San Marco I saw was as I was carrying camera equipment through the square on the raised platforms (and trying not to fall off).

[@eccoeco3454]

No native would consider Mestre as part of Venice. Marghera is liminal in that sense but no Mestre is not Venice, and many times there have been calls to split the two into two Independent communes (counties)

[@TheBann90]

You mean the rich airbnb owners? Well, I guess it's not a new thing that the rich doesn't want to share with the poor (living in Mestre)

[@lediglichich2718]

The graph at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="210">3:30</a> is highly misleading! It looked odd to me and good thing I double-checked. The horizontal scale is inconsistent (first year is 1871, then 1930, 1959 and 1969) and makes the initial slope appear much steeper than it actually is. Was this done intentionally? wtf

[@soundscape26]

Yes, the first intervals are not regular so the reading ends up being misleading.

[@Harbinger_of_nurgle]

I lived near Pordenone about 45 minutes north of Venice. I would give anything to go back someday

[@guicho271828]

Venezia (disgrunted male voice)

[@giosue5676]

I'm Venetian and I love my city. I also love to see how foreigners talk about Venice and many times they commit errors. I have to say that you were quite spot on and you pointed out many key aspects of the problems of Venice. Feel free to contact me if you come to Venice, it would be marvellous to talk with you about my city.

[@captainahab1533]

I think Venice should do a Dubrovnik and limit the maximum allowed amount of tourists per day.

[@mariotabali2603]

Unbelievable city I hope it lives long and well so my kids can visit it.