After reading this I will definitely never visit Venice .
They obviously hate tourists but would probaby be moaning if they didn’t get any .
I think I’ve found that:
https://www.itv.com/news/2019-06-02/cruise-ship-collides-with-tourist-boat-in-venice/
Four older female tourists were injured as they tried to run away as the cruise ship rammed the tourist boat.
The collision happened about 8:30am on Sunday on the Giudecca Canal, a major thoroughfare that leads to Saint Mark’s Square in the north-eastern Italian city.
Now that is really scary … 
Jazzi, l was amazed at those filming it! That liner did look ginormous in comparison to the boat. How ever didn’t it see it?
I have only been to Venice once when l boarded a cruise ship for a Mediterranean cruise.
Venice was beautiful. I gasped at its beauty as we sailed away.
What extraordinary footage! I imagine the crew were sick to their stomachs watching the whole thing happen in slow motion. Terrible.
I’m booked to sail into the Giaudecca on a small cruise ship in August, but if they ban the entrance I’m ok with it. I understand that the larger ships are causing a great deal of damage to the foundations on either side of the canal.
It’s somewhat unrelated, but I do think that they need to reduce the number of ships in a port in a single day. On some days, more than 15K people can disembark. Crushing.
Venice fines Germans for making coffee near Rialto bridge
Police in Venice have fined two German tourists who were caught making coffee on the steps of the Rialto Bridge, the oldest of the four bridges on the Grand Canal,
The backpackers, aged 32 and 35, were fined a total of €950 (£853) for preparing coffee on a travel cooker. They were also asked to leave the city.
Venice has introduced a law on a series of public order offences - including picnicking at certain sites and not wearing a shirt in public spaces.
The tourists from Berlin were reported to police by a passerby.
That’ll be the most expensive cup of coffee in Venice, then … 
Venice to route cruise ships away from city centre
The Italian government has confirmed plans to route cruise ships away from Venice city centre.
Transport minister Danilo Toninelli, the Financial Times reports, said starting next month, some ships would be directed to the city’s outlying Fusina and Lombardia terminals, although these remain within the Venetian lagoon.
Toninelli said the aim was by next year to re-route a third of Venice’s cruise traffic away from Venice’s Marittima terminal in the city centre.
Longer-term, city officials plan to consult Venetians on where new berths for the city should be situated.
It’s a first step … 
Yep, got no problem with that.
I’m fortunate to have cruised into Venice along the traditional route passing St Mark’s Square on many many occasions. It is a cruising “must” and a spectacular thing to witness. Simply breathtaking and a vantage point high up above the terracotta rooftops that can not be witnessed any other way.
Large cruise ships such as P&O’s Verntura and Azura are already now too big to be allowed into the main berthing areas at the back of Venice. Moving the berths further away is a reasonable idea provided they can facilitate movement of passengers from that point into Venice itself.
Opportunity knocks there for Venice to set up more chargeable transportation, e.g. more vapouretto services.
There already exists a monorail system that terminates at the main vapouretto hub at Piazzale Roma. They could look to utilise this by citing berths further along that monorail line or else join a new monorail to the existing line.
Either way so long as they sensibly preserve this most beautiful city I’m happy.
Let’s be under no allusions though. Venice is a commercial tourist city depite it’s rich tapestry of history, heritage, art and culture.
Of the people who now live there, only 1 in every 10 are actual true Venetians. The rest were very long ago pushed out and away as businesses and shops and commercial ventures flooded in and took over the place.
Cruising has nothing to do with that situation, it happened ages ago.
They key problem with cruising and Venice is the same as many other ports like Dubrovnik. The city governments and maritime operators permit FAR TOO MANY ships to visit both at the same time, and throughout the year.
Dubrovnik can see up to 5, sometimes 6 ships in on a given day. They built special new berthing areas about a 15 min bus ride away from Dubrovnik centre. They can hold 4 ships. 2 further ships can be moored in the bay right outside the old city walls.
These measures have served only to exacerbate the problem for locals. Even with 4 ships in on a given day, it is too much. I have been there many many times and if there are 4 or more ships in, I simply stay on the ship and don’t go ashore because the numbers of people flooding into the relatively small town centre is unbearable and dangerous. I have been there when it is like a football match with 10,000 people all trying to get through a tiny exit point. Really uncomfortable and dangerous.
The villains therefore to Venice and Dubrovnik and similar “pearls of the Adriatic” are NOT the cruising passengers, but rather the local city governments and maritime operators who are wilfully allowing far too many ships in. They do so because they get massive profits from the huge berthing fees they charge the cruise lines. Of course local residents of Venice etc don’t see a penny of those profits.
It’s all wrong and very typical of today’s gloabalist systems which see the rich and wealth and powerful organisations rape and pillage areas for profit at the expense of the lives of local people. It needs to be stopped.
Moving cruise ships from one place to another won’t solve the problem at Venice. They MUST start restricting how many ships visit on the same day, and the number that visit per year.
Almost as expensive as two coffees in St Mark’s Square 
I was in Venice a couple of years ago…i remember we sat in St Marks Square listening to the music…my husband commented looking at the menu he didn’t think the food was so expensive taking into consideration the location so he ordered a pizza at €15…me being a true Yorkshire lass said I would have a slice of his…I still laugh at the look on hubby’s face when the pizza arrived…it was the size of a small saucer…so funny. Needless to say I forfeited my slice 
I love Venice though…just love it.
I have never cruisedi into Venice or been there when a cruise ship arrived so it’s hard to make a judgement…I suspect it’s not as pleasant the days cruise ships are there .
Some more ‘eye watering tales’ :shock:
Blimey €85 for four coffees …I think I would have refused to pay it …nah on second thoughts i would have paid reluctantly…not keen on the thought of an Italian jail 
One good thing I discovered Aperol spritz in Venice…very nice
They can stuff their soggy city if I want to see it I can just go and look at a Canaletto in the National gallery .
Oh yes !!
It became my general drink of choice many years ago after seeing an Italian family celebrating in the restaurant we were eating at on the Grand Canal. It looked great, we asked the waiter what it was, he brought over the bottle, we ordered a couple, and never looked back.
The Aperol Spritz craze spread across Italy pretty fast and then hit the UK and much of modern Europe. Just about any pub or bar in the UK now serves Aperol Spritzes.
In the summer, it’s my No 1 choice.
If you love them too you should also try a Sicilian Spritz.
This is more or less the same thing but uses Limoncello instead of Aperol and some places also add a measur of gin to boot. Zesty and fresh it’s just as nice.
If you have a local Carluccio’s italian restaurant near you (good food BTW) then you can get one there. The spritzes are usually on offer, 2 for a tenner.
Sicilian Spritz sounds lovely…Carluccios has closed down in Ilkley but there is one in Leeds I will definitely try one next rime I’m there …thanks for the recomendation Realist.
Over-tourism: a global issue
The controversy surrounding large cruise ships isn’t unique to Venice. They have also been the subject of debate in popular destinations including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dubrovnik and Marseille.
Justin Francis, CEO of green tour operator, Responsible Travel, told us: ‘Unesco sites are vulnerable and have limited capacity for tourists.
‘In these places, the high-volume, low-value cruise ships are contributing to the problems they’re facing.
‘Smaller vessels have a number of advantages, including that they allow tourists to visit smaller areas that are inaccessible to larger ships. However, too many small ships can also have negative impacts.’
Which are currently running a survey:
Tell us what you think…
Should cruise ships be banned from Unesco World Heritage Sites?
[LIST]
[]Yes, all cruise ships should be banned from Unesco World Heritage Sites 66%
[]Only ships over a certain size limit should be banned 31%
[*]No, tourist vessels of any size should be free to visit wherever they want 3%
[/LIST]
You see this is a bot of a sleight of hand comment TBH.
Low value?
I don’t think so.
Do you really think that the Barcelona, Dubrovnik or Venice governments/authorities would have spent $billions purpose building large berthing areas specifically for cruise ships???
I fear the article there is having you on.
Understand that some years ago, the beautiful city of Dubrovnik only had room for a couple of cruise ships and one of those would have to be moored in the bay outside the city walls. They since created a completely new cruise terminal which can hold 4 to 5 cruise ships, sited about a 15 min bus ride from the city. That cost many $millions to devlelop. It has a terminal for passengers and lounge/cafe area for cruise staff.
Then look at Venice. It’s government/authories too have in very recent years, invested massively in cruising tourism. They have also built massive new berths specifically for cruise ships. They can hold 5 to 6 ships at any one time I believe.
So let’s put this in perspective.
Cruise ships are not “low value” in any sense. The authorities are raking in $millions from cruise ship berthing fees which are for such places huge. Berthing fees for a day in Venice (depends on size of ship) can be maybe £80,000
or more. That’s for each ship, every day, 365 days a year. Do the math.
The many £1000s of passengers that visit typically spend money on food and drink in the cities thus supporting the many restaurants and bars. They also buy clothes, shoes, souvenirs and other items from shops. All money going into local shops and businesses.
So when we get down to it, who is it really that cruise ships are “low value” for?
I submit that it is only for the local people who don’t have any business that serves tourism.
And don’t get me wrong I have strong sympathy with those people. There is a need to preserve properly these beautiful places and to properly manage the levels of visitors.
The bigger problem is that the $billions being made by local authorities and maritime businesses from cruiseing is not being passed down the food change to the local people.
I’m guessing the fat cats just keep the money for themselves instead of investing most of it back into teh communitiesand infrastructure. Hence your average local resident sees crusing and other tourism as a negative thing because they aren’t getting a share of pie.
But isn’t that descriptive of gloabism everywhere on the planet at present? The elite and large conglomerates are busily pillaging and raping everything for profit regardless of anyone else’s concerns. They have acquired 99% of the world’s wealth and left the rest of us with 1%.
So there’s more going on here and demonising cruise ships is sadly a bit of a distraction from the truth.
Cruise shipping CAN be managed, the number of ships per day or week or year structured so as not to cause negative impacts. That doesn’t happen because the cruising industry is actually very HIGH value to local authorities.
Therefore the Venetians and others need to direct their angst and frustrations towards their own authorities rather than to cruise lines and tourists. They need to demand a share of the pie in the form of tax reliefs or better services and so on.
As a final note it should be noted that the farcical Which? survey there is deliberately offering limited choices in order to manipulate the results.
It’s patently clear to anyone with any degree of common sense that authorites simply need to properly manage the levels and numbers of cruise ships arriving. That sensible option however is not on Which?'s survey is it !!
I long since stopped reading Which? magazine. Its reviews are totally biased and not independent imho. You get far better advice from simply reading testimonies posted all over the internet. I would never ever now buy anything on the recommendation of Which?
Coronavirus: Venice canals clearer after lockdown
Residents of Venice are noticing a vast improvement in the quality of the famous canals that run through the city, which are running clear for the first time in years, and fish can even be seen in the usually murky waters.
The coronavirus lockdown has left Venice streets empty, and a drastic drop in water traffic means sediment in the canals has been able to settle.
That’s good news …
Venice bans cruise ships from historic centre
Italian authorities have approved a ban on cruise ships entering the historic centre of Venice. The country’s culture minister said on Wednesday that the decision came in response to a request from UN cultural body Unesco. Large ships will now have to dock at the city’s industrial port until a permanent solution is found.
Critics argue the ships cause pollution and erode the foundations of the city, which suffers from regular flooding.
On Wednesday, Italian ministers agreed that large cruise and container ships would no longer be able to enter the city’s Giudecca canal, which leads to the historic St Mark’s Square. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini hailed the move, made in response to a request from UN cultural body Unesco, as “a correct decision, awaited for years”.
Cruise ships are currently unable to enter Venice due to coronavirus restrictions but their absence since has been credited with improving water quality in the lagoons.
Previous initiatives to stop cruise ship traffic have also failed. In 2013, the government banned ships weighing more than 96,000 tonnes from the Giudecca canal, but the legislation was later overturned.
Other plans to divert cruise ships from the centre of Venice were announced in 2017 but were never fully implemented.
Probably the best non-COVID news this year so far … 
About bloody time if you ask me. I’ve seen photos taken from the landward side of St Marks of cruise ships moored up that tower OVER the top of the cathedral.
I have read that the only residents left in Venice are the ones that can’t afford to leave?
All the rest are business owners that live elsewhere !!
.Donkeyman!