This is not Disneyland, this is not an amusement park. All we ask for is respect - Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro

Venice may be a world treasure, but Venetians are disappearing - fast. In just a decade the city has lost 12 per cent of its resident population, which now sits at just 53,000.  Some locals say they’ll all be gone in a few decades.

It’s all thanks to the 25 million-plus tourists who come to Venice and who, over a full year, outnumber residents 500 to one. Many are “eat and run” day-trippers who spend little but swell the crowds.

…Just three hours – Chinese tour group leader, asked how long her group is staying in Venice

Longer staying visitors are unwittingly helping to evict Venetians from their homes. As landlords scurry to convert apartments into tourist beds, permanent accommodation dries up and rents shoot up.

The city has made a total shift in favour of tourism and against residents – housing activist Nicola Ussardi

Politicians fiddle at the margins. They’ve announced a new tax on visitors, but it will be too small to dent visitor numbers. Every year they debate ways to curb the giant cruise ships that overwhelm the city skyline.

Now Venetians are taking matters into their own hands.

We are destroying the city, we are choosing to kill it for money – anti-cruise ship campaigner Tommasso Cacciari

Cacciari wants the ships out of the Venice lagoon. He says they’re big polluters and bring in little revenue.

Activists are taking direct action to reverse the city’s depopulation. Nicola Ussardi’s group occupies and renovates empty buildings to house evicted Venetians.

We are resisting. We have to give Venetians the possibility of living in their own city – housing activist Nicola Ussardi

In the long run though, tourists pose a lesser threat to Venice than the very thing they come to see – water.

The main challenge comes from the sea that is rising all over the world. We‘ll be a ghost town in the worst case scenario – Giovanni Cecconi, engineer

Within this century, rising sea levels could destroy Venice, says Cecconi.

So the city is pinning its hopes on a fix that Cecconi helped design – a corruption-plagued, $9.6 billion flood barrier that’s seven years overdue.

Even that, he says, might just be buying time.

Episode teaser. GFX: Foreign Correspondent
Venice canals

Music

00:00

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: For nearly 2000, years Venice has prospered against all odds.

00:09

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “The magic of Venice is the balancing between water and stone and people, you know?  That’s the magic of Venice, the impossible city, the city on the sea”.

00:14

Hordes of tourists

Music

00:26

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But the famed floating city is sinking and suffocating.

00:30

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “Venice will be completely transformed.  Its sea level will be more than two feet, more than sixty centimetres.  We will… have to abandon the ground floor”.

00:34

Cruise ships

Music

00:46

LUIGI BRUGNARO: “We have to recognise that this is not Disneyland.  It’s not an amusement park.  It’s where people live”.

00:50

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: If rising sea levels don’t take it first, mass tourism is set to destroy its soul.

00:56

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “We are choosing to kill it for money, for a little bit of money now, without thinking about what will happen tomorrow”.

01:05

GFX: foreign correspondent

01:13

Venice sunset GVs. GFX:
Venice, Italy

01:23

GFX: Saving Venice

01:27

Hawley walks  GFX:  Reporter: Samantha Hawley

[FX: Church bells]

01:31

Canals. Carnival time. Gondolas on canals

Music

01:37

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It’s carnivale time in Venice.

01:46

Music

01:48

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: For centuries, Venetians have marked the lead up to Lent in spectacular style. 

01:55

Music

02:00

Tourists line streets watching street performance

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Nowadays, it’s a celebration drawing crowds from all over the world. 

02:04

Music

02:09

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But behind the flamboyant masks there’s a sad truth… Venice is dying.

02:19

Venetian protest

Music

02:26

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: There are no tourists here.  These are the real Venetians and they’re fighting hard to reclaim their city.  There are only about 53,000 true Venetians now living in Venice, over the year, 500 times as many tourists will come and go.

02:34

Ussardi addresses protest

Nicola Ussardi, a proud Venetian born and bred, runs a community housing group, dedicated to keeping Venetians in their homes.

03:07

NICOLA USSARDI: “Everyone thinks we’re doomed, dead.  There are lots of individuals

03:22

Ussardi interview

who still have their say about changing the way things work, even though it’s not easy because the city has made a total shift in favour of tourism and against residents”.

03:31

Canal GVs

Music

03:45

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: In the last 15 years, the number

03:51

Hawley walks streets by canals

of beds offered privately to tourists, aside from registered accommodation, has grown more than fivefold.  That’s pushed rental prices up and many residents just can’t afford to stay.

03:53

Venetians from all walks of life are being affected, but particularly the middle classes.  They don’t qualify for state help, and on average, half their salary goes on rent.

04:10

Hawley walks with Ussardi to empty apartment

Despite the rental squeeze, thousands of council owned apartments have been left empty for years.  These are the ones Nicola and his group target for occupation.  We have to be careful, because in recent months there’s been a police crackdown on intruders.

04:22

Hawley and Ussardi into dark empty apartment

 “Alright, it’s very dark…”

NICOLA USSARDI: “Yes”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “No electricity, but this is one of the ones that’s empty that you want to occupy?”

NICOLA USSARDI: “Yes”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Sometimes the apartments are deliberately vandalised by the authorities to deter squatters, but Nicola’s team renovates them and helps families to move in on peppercorn rents.

04:44

NICOLA USSARDI: “This has more or less 75 square metres, here was living an old woman, but now this apartment is ready for a family for two or three kids.  So it’s empty more or less two years”.

05:03

“Landlords see Venetian citizens as risky. They’d rather cash in and make more money from tourists

05:20

Ussardi interview

because in a week, a tourist can spend what a citizen might spend in a month”.

05:31

Men with crab and fish catches

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Long term residents of Venice say they’re being thrown out of their apartments, which are then rented to tourists through accommodation website, Airbnb.  It’s thought there are now almost 8000 Airbnb properties in the small historic centre of the city.

05:27

NICOLA USSARDI: “I believe Venice is among the top three for Airbnb apartments in the whole of Italy.

06:08

Ussardi interview

The battle against Airbnb is very difficult.  It’s like trying to win against Coca Cola”.

06:17

Hawley walks with Ussardi

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Nicola and his group have helped 150 Venetians to find homes, but there’s always the threat of eviction.

06:24

Ussardi knocks on window above banner hanging from it

 “What does this say?”

NICOLA USSARDI: [reading the banner] “We don’t move from here because we are Venice and we love there.  So we love her. They say yeah we love Venice!”

06:34

Chiara and Davide at window and talk with Ussardi

“Hi Chiara, hi Davide”.

CHIARA & DAVIDE: “Hello, hello”.

NICOLA USSARDI: “Did someone come?”

DAVIDE: “Yes.  They came… quite early this morning”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Davide and Chiara have squatted here for 8 years with their 8-year-old daughter and now they’ve been served an eviction notice.

06:51

DAVIDE: “Yes, yes, he gave us a postponement to September 10”.

CHIARA: “That’s much better. After two months…”

DAVIDE: “We can relax a bit”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY:  The couple applied for public housing when Chiara found out she was pregnant.

07:12

DAVIDE: “I had an insecure job and she as at home. We didn’t have the income we needed to get a house in Venice because rents are very, very high.  And… another thing is that landlords don’t do long term contracts.  So it’s hard to find a house to live in for four, eight, ten years, whatever. It’s complicated”.

07:31

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Now they’re in a precarious situation.

08:11

Conversation at window continues

DAVIDE: “It’s not easy.  Living in an “occupied” house is risky. On days when we face an eviction notice… we don’t know if they’ll come with the police to move us out. So we have to live on guard all the time”.

08:17

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Do you think eventually you will have to leave Venice?”

08:37

CHIARA: “That’s something we don’t know.  But clearly, we find ourselves having to think about it. But hopefully it won’t happen”.

08:40

Ext. Pharmacy. Digital counter in window at pharmacy

Music

08:55

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: In a pharmacy nearby, a clock records the loss of residents.  Locals say on current trends, they’ll all be gone in the next 50 years. 

09:01

Venice tourism GVs

Meanwhile, the tourists keep coming.  The best estimates available put the annual number of visitors to Venice between 25 and 30 million.

09:13

Music

09:28

SAMANTHA HAWLEY:  Many are day trippers known as “eat and run” visitors who spend little but swell the crowds and put more pressure on the infrastructure.  Europeans and Americans still top the visitor list,

09:32

Chinese tourists

but Chinese are catching up fast.  So far less than 10 percent of Chinese have passports, but that’s set to increase dramatically.

09:52

Tourist coaches disgorge tourists

 “So this is quite incredible watching it, it’s coach after coach with masses of people

10:12

Hawley to camera beside tourist coach

rolling off.  They’re going to spend a few hours here and then they’re going to roll straight back on again. It’s just incredible to watch it, and this isn’t even peak season”.

10:19

Chinese tour group leader

“Hello, do you speak English?  ABC Australia, we’re from Australia”.

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “I’m so sorry I must go, go to the boat. So sorry”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Where’s your group from?”

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “China”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “From China. And how long are they here in Venice?

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “Well we stay here half a day”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Just for half a day?”

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “Yeah…”

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Wow that’s really quick.  And so what do you hope… what do they hope to see?  Why have they come here to Venice?”

10:28

[shot continuous]

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “You know, you know now is it Chinese New Year and so much people to come here for Venice”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “So what will they do, what will they see?”

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “Yeah we will have a gondola and a small boat in the river side”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “So you’re only here for what five hours?”

TOUR GROUP LEADER; “No, I’m so sorry just for three hours”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “For three hours.  Wow.  Okay”.

10:52

Group leader leaves to find her group

TOUR GROUP LEADER: “I’m so sorry”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Thank you, thank you so much”.

11:16

Music

11:21

Mask maker Marilisa Dal Cason

11:31

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Tourism here is big business.  Visitors spend about 9 billion dollars a year and a good portion of that goes on cheap mass-produced souvenirs.  Marilisa Dal Cason is a master mask maker.  Her craft is centuries old, but it’s gradually being lost.  In the last 40 years, Venice has lost more than half of its crafts men and women.

11:36

Dal Cason interview

MARILISA DAL CASON: “And the people doesn’t understand that when they see a big mask and we say the price, ‘Oh too much!’ They don’t understand that for something like that there is hour, weeks or month sometimes”.  

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Marilisa’s been making

12:09

Masks in Dal Cason's studio

her art for over 30 years but isn’t sure she can hang on for much longer.

MARILISA DAL CASON: “It is difficult to leave this,

12:29

Dal Cason interview

that is my, it’s me… and I want to keep strong but it’s very, very difficult to stay alive”.

12:37

[FX: Church bells]

12:46

Hawley walks across piazza and greets Cacciari

12:51

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Venetians don’t want to stop people coming to their city, but they do want more control over how many visitors come and how they arrive.

12:59

Cacciari and Hawley on boat in lagoon

“Okay well this is the way to travel”.

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “Yes, for sure”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “For sure”.

13:16

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “Venetian’s means of transport”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Oh it’s beautiful, beautiful. I mean you can see why so many millions of people want to come here”.

13:20

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “The magic of Venice is balancing between water and stone”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY:  Venetian, Tommaso Cacciari, is a founding member of the anti-cruise ship movement – no Grandi Navi or No Big Ships.

13:34

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “These enormous ships come inside the Venice lagoon from there, they cross all the city”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Last year alone, 594 cruise ships sailed right into the Venice lagoon over a six-month period.  Now Tommaso and his fellow campaigners want them to stop.

13:50

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “If you think that the tallest house in Venice are from Jewish ghetto and they are tall, 16 or 17 metres. 

14:10

Cruise ship in lagoon

A basic cruise ship which comes in here is 65 metres, so they’re about six times higher than the tallest house of Venice.  When you see the pictures, you think it’s a joke.  You know you think it’s a mistake, a scale mistake”.

14:21

Hawley and Cacciari disembark boat at San Giorgio Maggiore and walk on paving stones

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Tommaso is taking me to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, just across the lagoon from St Mark’s Square to show me the damage he claims cruise ships cause.

14:42

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “And so right here where we are now, is the place where the movement of the water caused by big ships is maximum”.

14:56

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: According to Tommaso, the currents created by the passing ships are destroying these centuries old paving stones.

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “Here, this part of the island is just slipping into the water and eaten from beneath. 

15:04

You can see it’s going away from between the stones.  They’re trying to do this kind of useless horrible thing…”

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “They’re putting concrete”.

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “Putting some concrete, concrete is not a Venetian material.  Nothing in Venice is made by concrete which is totally useless”.

15:23

Hawley and Cacciari on boat

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “So how does that make you feel when you sort of come down here and you see these cruise ships docked here? I mean inside”.

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “Very angry.  Very angry, because this is a big damage for our health, our city, our natural city and our built city, because Venice is so beautiful because it’s a city on the sea”.

15:43

Protestors in boats around cruise ship

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: In protest locals have taken to their boats to vent their frustration. There’s debate over whether the cruise ships cause subsidence, but there’s no dispute over the pollution they create.  Per day, one cruise ship emits as many air pollutants as a million cars.  Tommaso Cacciari and many fellow Venetians, don’t see the benefit.

16:06

Cacciari interview

TOMMASO CACCIARI: “Cruise ships are not giving money to the city.  They’re not giving money to the workers, to bars, to taxi drivers, to… there is nothing this. Cruise ships is keeping the money concentrated in very few hands, and these few hands are very powerful.  Some politicians are very tied with these interests.  They are not very good politicians”.

16:43

Cruise ship

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The cruise ships must pay to enter and moor, but it’s believed the bulk of that money goes to the national government and private interests, not to Venice.  There’s not much incentive for Rome to change anything. 

17:14

Hawley with Paola Marr

As Paola Marr, Venice’s Tourism Chief, tried to explain.  “Is it right to presume that despite all the talk, the cruise ships will continue to dock exactly where they’ve been docking in recent years;

17:33

nothing is going to change?”

PAOLA MARR: “No, actually that’s not how it is.  We put a proposal to the Government in the committee again last year, no it’s two years ago now.  And I think they’ve announced their decision today, but I haven’t had the time to read it”.

17:49

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “You need Rome to agree with your view do you on that?”

18:11

PAOLA MARR: “Yes, it’s the Government that decides.  We can’t make the decision.  As the City Council, we take the proposal to Rome and the government must decide”.

18:14

Cruise ship

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Each year, the politicians in Rome debate the merits of diverting cruise ships away from the city centre, but so far words have not translated into action.

18:26

Tourists in gondolas

The arguments over lack of housing, tourism and cruise ships could all soon be academic.  In the long run, the tourists pose less of a threat to Venice than the very thing they’ve come to see – water.

18:38

Canals and bridges

Music

19:00

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: As you weave your way through the canals towards the lagoon, there are reminders everywhere that this city, built across 118 islands, is at constant risk of going under.

19:09

Music

19:21

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “In centimetres, it’s 30 centimetres essentially”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “15 centimetres”.

19:24

Cecconi interview

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “15 due to the sinking and 15 due to the global sea level rise”.

19:28

Watermark along building foundation

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Engineer and scientist, Giovanni Cecconi, has been documenting the flood water changes for 30 years.

19:32

Hawley and Cecconi in boat looking at carved angel

“Now this, this is an angel, just describe to me how this has changed over time”.

19:47

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “The green line, that is the main high tide.  It’s well above the mouth of the angel.  So you have to consider one foot of elevation on the main high tide with relation to the main sea level.  So everything has been shifted 40 centimetres below.  So the angel is kind of a symbol, an icon of the danger of sea level rise”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “The danger for Venice”.

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “Yes, the green line tells you”.

19:54

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “And the angel doesn’t look happy”.

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “No, not at all”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “No”.

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “It is looking up, so it doesn’t trust the humans, he is more in favour of God, the intervention of God”.

20:28

Hawley and Cecconi on boat to MOSE

Music

20:41

SAMANTHA HAWLEY:  Giovanni is taking me to look at the long awaited 9-billion-dollar solution to Venice’s flooding problem.  He helped design it,

20:47

it’s known as MOSE.

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “MOSE is a mobile storm surge barrier. 

20:57

Cecconi interview

So this means when not in use, it will disappear. But when a storm surge is coming and the flooding starts over 110 centimetres, meaning above St Mark Square’s elevation essentially the barrier can be elevated and close the sea out of the lagoon”.

21:07

Venice GVs

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Many Venetians are sceptical.  Construction began 15 years ago and it was due to open in 2011 but the system is still not operational. 

21:30

The project’s been dogged by one of Italy’s biggest corruption scandals.  In 2014, 35 people, including the former Mayor of Venice, were arrested for embezzling 30 million dollars of public funds.

21:45

Cecconi interview

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “Everybody was benefitting from the extra cost, so there was nobody that was saying, on no maybe we cannot do that because it’s expensive, let’s choose another solution that is good, but not so expensive.  In a corrupted situation, as it was, the longer the better, the more expensive the better”.

22:06

View of MOSE from lagoon

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Some environmentalists say the barrier will pollute the lagoon by blocking water flows but without the MOSE system, the outlook for this floating city is grim.

22:28

Cecconi interview

“The biggest environmental challenge facing Venice now is actually the rising sea levels?”

22:45

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “We are under the threat of sea level rise and Venice will be completely transformed.  Its sea level will be more than two feet, more than 60 centimetre”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “That’s the worst-case scenario, what would it mean?”

22:51

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “The scenario is to move with boat and not to use the walking path anymore and abandon the ground floor.  I think it will take 50 years”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “50 years and then how long would it take for the destruction of those buildings because their bottom level is now under water? How many years after that?”

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “Oh I think in another 30 years, really rapidly will be deteriorated if we do nothing”.

23:06

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “So Venice could be destroyed within 80 years?”

23:38

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “Yes, yes, yes”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “That’s incredible”.

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “We’ll be a ghost town, in case of a worst-case scenario”.

23:42

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “And the world should care about that”.

23:51

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “Yes, yes and Venice is an iconic city of living on the water so is a not only a nation of importance, it’s of international importance”.

23:52

Street performer beside canal

[singing]

24:01

SAMANTHA HAWLEY:  For now, life in Venice goes on, a series of serenades and gondola rides.  Few visitors are aware of the threats to the city.

24:15

SINGER: [singing to passing gondolas on canal] “Long live Venice.  Here we are in Barricatella”.

24:25

Chinese tourists in gondola

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Later this year the UN will decide whether to put Venice on the World Heritage endangered list, a move that would reflect poorly on the city authorities and its current Mayor, Luigi Brugnaro.

24:32

Brugnaro interview

LUIGI BRUGNARO: “I respect the role of UNESCO, I very much respect it because it is in our interest to be able to keep competing at the international level.  It’s in the interest of Venice and Venetians and of everyone who loves this city”.

24:47

Brugnaro at city meeting

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: He’s just got the go ahead for a new tax, making Venice one of the only cities in the world to charge tourists an entry fee.

“Just explain

25:01

Brugnaro interview

the tax for me, what is it going to…”

LUIGI BRUGNARO: “No tax”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Not a tax”.

LUIGI BRUGNARO: “Contribution of access”.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: “Okay, you don’t like to call it a tax, I understand. What do you prefer to call it and why…”

LUIGI BRUGNARO: “No, it is in the access… right… contribution.  No money, it’s the right of contribution”.

25:15

Hawley with Brugnaro

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The new charge is meant to be in place within months, but no one seems to know how it will be collected.  The Mayor guarantees full transparency.

25:41

Brugnaro interview

LUIGI BRUGNARO: “We’ve made transparency a point of pride, and this access fee will be fully transparent.  It will be absolutely visible, not just locally but at an international level on the council’s website where we will declare how much we make and where it will be spent”.

25:54

Carnivale performances on canals

Music

26:12

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Venice, the floating city, “La Sernissima”, City of Bridges, has thrived for nearly two millennia.  But without drastic action the city we know now might not survive this century making its glam carnivale just a pantomime with no real Venetians left to play.

26:24

Music

26:52

Cecconi interview

GIOVANNI CECCONI: “We need to have a vision of our future.  If we don’t have the others will impose their vision on us.  And we will adapt with short term advantages getting money out of the tourism but without any long term plan”.

TOMMASO CACCIARI: "I am amazed that we are destroying the city.

26:59

Cacciari interview

We are making the wrong choices, or no choice, that is like making a wrong choice, and we are choosing to kill it for money, for a little bit of money now without thinking of what will happen tomorrow”.

26:28

Carnivale performances on canals

Music

27:41

Ussardi interview

NICOLA USSARDI: “We are resisting, and even if it’s painful, we have to give the Venetians the possibility of living in their own city.  It’s absolutely not true that we’ll die.  Absolutely”.

27:49

Carnivale performances on canals. Credits over

Reporter : Samantha Hawley

Producer: Bronwen Reed

Fixer: Josephine McKenna

Camera: Timothy Stevens

Editor: Garth Thomas

Additional footage [Cruise ship vision]: POND5 (must be credited)

Executive Producer: Matthew Carney

28:01

Foreign Correspondent
abc.net.au/foreign

© 2019

28:18

Out point

28:25