A tourist has been fined and banned from Venice’s historic centre after swimming in the Grand Canal with his partner.
The 35-year-old and his 25-year-old Romanian girlfriend were fined €450 each and ordered to leave the lagoon city for 48 hours. Gondoliers reported the couple after spotting them bathing in the canal.
Local rules ban “acts contrary to decorum when bathing in the city’s waters.” The city council said the order was “immediately enforceable,” ending the pair’s holiday.
Venice’s vice mayor Elisabetta Pesce thanked gondoliers for their swift response. “The municipal administration is committed to firmly combating disrespectful and uncivil behaviour,” she said. “Protecting Venice means defending the dignity of a city that is unique in the world.”
Residents reacted angrily online. A post in the “Venice is not Disneyland” Facebook group read: “We don’t want these disrespectful tourists.” Others demanded the couple not be allowed to leave Italy until their fines were paid.
The city has issued more than 1,000 penalties this year as part of a crackdown on misbehaving tourists. Offences have included illegal waterskiing, drunken dives from bridges, and one man belly-flopping from a three-storey building. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro labelled that tourist an “idiot.”
Deputy mayor Simone Venturini said strict measures were necessary. “Venice is a city as beautiful as it is fragile,” he said. “No one has a magic wand. Each European city facing overtourism must find its own approach.”
