Residents of Venice fear being relics as population to fall

The remaining inhabitants of Venice's historic centre said they fear being relics in an open museum now that the population is expected to drop below 50,000 for the first time.

Venice's main island has lost more than 120,000 residents since the early 1950s, driven away by myriad issues but mainly a focus on mass tourism, which has caused the population to be dwarfed by the thousands of visitors that fill its squares, bridges and narrow walkways each day.

Venessia.com, an activist group that has been campaigning to preserve Venice's heritage for years, said the figure, now at 50,011, would fall below 50,000 by Friday.

According to Matteo Secchi, who leads Venessia.com, we don't have a precise number but, based on our calculations and using data from the civil registry, it will go below 50,000. We have warned about this for years but no administration has managed to reverse the trend. Secchi said that those who are still feeling suffocated by an economic machine that has focused on tourism. He said that it had left residents struggling with a high cost of living and a lack of affordable housing, and led to businesses selling essential items that are now being replaced by souvenir shops.

The tourism industry is a double-edged sword because you take money but at the same time expel all the activities and space, said Secchi, who described Venice as a cash machine. Venice authorities announced this year a plan to attract remote workers to the city, but it seems to have made little impact. This kind of thing is OK, but we need an epochal change and for the council to bring in significant measures, such as offering financial incentives to property owners who only rent to Venetians, said Secchi. The danger is that we are becoming extinct, soon we will be like relics in an open museum. The Venice council dismissed the population concerns, arguing that the number is boosted by foreign students and daily commuters from nearby Mestre and that the civil registry doesn't include those who may live in the city for a significant part of the year but are not registered as a resident.

Since 2008, an electronic ticker displayed in the window of the Morelli chemist has recorded the population on Venice's main island. It is now at 50,011, down from 50,022 last week, and for sure it will go under the 50,000 threshold in the next few days, said Andrea Morelli, owner of the chemist. I remember Venice as a child when the local population presided. You would go for a stroll in St Mark's Square and see people you knew.