Is Living in Venice Impossible? We Asked Those Who Really Live There

“It’s beautiful but I wouldn’t live there”, only those who haven’t lived there Venice you can say this sentence as soon as you land in the Lagoon, because those who have tried it know it: the beauty of Venice it’s not about visiting it as a tourist, arriving and leaving, but it’s just living it.

We all know the data, we are talking about less than 50 thousand residents in the historic center against more than 50 thousand daily tourists. “We are a minority”, he says Joanna Paparone37 years old, who together with her sister Rosalba carries on the business founded by her grandfather, Paparone 1908a commercial agency that operates in the food and wine sector. A minority, but alive as it hasn’t been for a long time. The impression, speaking with some Venetians, in these days of the Film Festivalis to find yourself in front of activists who are fighting for their city. The impression is – despite everything – that Venice is alive and ready to live better. Will it make it?

Venice exists

«Am I a city activist? Let’s say that I feel a sense of responsibility – he says Valeria Necchio, 37 years old working in the world of communication as a freelancer -. Together with a friend I founded the cultural association How do we meet? Now we are 9 girls and we give life to meetings aimed at a demographic group that until recently had not had the opportunity to meet, count and talk to each other. It is a female network, but open to all, that wants to encourage exchange in the city and with the outside. Because this is the big problem of Venice: feeling and being in a bubble».

Valeria Necchio in the lagoon

An island, far from the rest of the world, even if connected by a bridge to the mainland and where everything moves on the water – or on foot. Obviously, therefore, everything is more complicated: moving, getting goods in, organizing events. Christian SpillerDJ and music event organizer in the city (and you will certainly remember him for his greatest success that made everyone dance, absolutely everyone, Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) sung by a very young Sophie Ellis Bextor) confirms it: «For my work, living in Venice is a disadvantage because the logistics here are very complicatedit is difficult to find locations that now have sky-high prices because they are granted to big brands that can afford to pay huge sums. My events are accessible to everyone, it’s a very tough competition.».

Yet he succeeds, everyone knows him in the city and this summer he has proposed for the second year the evenings with the collective Crocodiles in Veniceon Sunday evening, on the island of San Servolo. A name that is already a game in itself, a crocodile out of its habitat. With irony, Spiller tries to sensitize young people (and not only). Starting from communication, made of images (by the Venetian photographer Matteo De Mayda) that talk about theovertourism and the great contradictions between present and past, such as that of the fake tourist touring the city canals on a pedal boat. «These are images that explain themselves.. Despite all the difficulties I manage to organize these evenings because in all these years I have built up credibility and because I have many acquaintances, but the audience is increasingly smaller. Until a few years ago there were many more young people and students who are now forced to live outside the historic center because the house prices are too high”. Here lies the whole contradiction of this city and which falls on those who live there: residents are eager to do things, while those who govern allow “an increasingly low-cost offer to proliferate” says Valeria. And in the end even the tourists, not recognizing the Venetians, end up thinking that they are not there.

Venice, which trains you for the unexpected

And then there is the beauty and intrinsic value of the city: «The advantage of working and living in Venice is that whatever you do here has resonance – he tells me Spiller -. Despite there being no help from the institutions – and this is not just a Venetian problem, it must be said – the events I organize work and people come from all over the Veneto regionthere are not only Venetians».

Cristiano Spiller lives in Venice, but has played all over the world

«To say that living in Venice is increasingly stressful, complex and difficult – Giovanna tells me – is to state the obvious, I prefer to think about the value of the unexpected. Venice trains you to be in the unexpectedthe ugly one, but also the beautiful one. We are tired of an old narrative. The Venice that exists is the one of today, not the Serenissima. Up until 10 years ago we had no ideas, now beautiful realities have been born, which take care of the city and its community».

Valeria works for one of these, Inside Venicea reality that tells the story of the city in a casual and informal way, with the desire to create an active community. Recently, meetings have been held between residents, but also people from outside the city, to discuss together the challenges and possibilities. In this regard, it is worth remembering that the PD’s proposed law High housing tension It was born from a similar initiative, right here in Venice, a city that enjoys a special amendment that allows it to promulgate laws independently from the rest of Italy. The proposed law on the regulation of short-term rentals born from the bottom has been completely ignored by the administrationon the other hand, they created the entrance ticket to the city. Rather than “long live Venice”, we should say: “long live the Venetians!”.