Can you afford living in Venice?

Post date: Oct 14, 2015 3:5:51 AM

“Only the wealthy people can afford to live here “- that is how a local resident was expressed about living in Venice. Only 55, 000 people call Venice home nowadays, compared to 120,000 people that was two decades ago. This incline in local population comes as a result of the increase in prices of the cost of housings, food, transportation and no job opportunities, unless it is related to tourism.

Matteo Secchi and his father, Mario Secchi are both Venetians who live in Venice, and in a news article by Winston Ross they were discussing about tourism in Venice. They were talking about the landlords that are evicting the residents from their houses because of profiting more by renting their apartments to the foreign people. They both agreed this act wasn’t fair, but they disagreed on the solution of the problem. Mario considered building gates, and forcing tourists to pay entering and departure fees as a solution. “They should pay, because they dirty the city”, he insisted. In contrary, his son believed that the tax would convert the city into a theme park. “With an entrance fee to Venice, we become Disneyland”, he added. Matteo believed that the government should do something about this situation. And I think Matteo is right. I hope with the new mayor the situation will change, in order for a normal family to be able to live in Venice.