TURNSTILES TO ACCESS ST MARK’S SQUARE

With the return of the fine weather these last days of August have again seen Venice and the St Mark’s area invaded by tourists, once again raising the question of controlling tourist numbers in the city. La Nuova Venezia has once again been looking at the problem in recent days with Alberto Vitucci. One proposal made by the under-secretary for Culture and Tourism, Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, in an interview in the Nuova, is to impose checks on the flow of tourism in the city presenting a specific ‘Venice Project’ on the part of the government. The mayor Luigi Brugnaro is also considering a control on flows in the St Mark’s area, possibly by means of turnstiles, and Maurizio Crovato, journalist and leader of the Lista Brugnaro in the city council, confirms the council administration’s interest in Buitoni’s proposal sustaining the need to act against commuter tourism and favouring strict control of the flows: entrance only to those who book perhaps via internet. The committee for sustainable tourism and the artisans’ association agree with Buitoni and ask that decisions be made quickly. The Associazione Piazza San Marco notes that it has clearly expressed itself on this several times and has for some time been awaiting concrete, operational decisions