A few years ago, “Il conta-veneziani” or the counter of the inhabitants of the historic center of Venice started being displayed a few steps from the Rialto bridge.

A second one has recently been put up in the crowded and central Strada Nova.

The initiative was born from associations and residents to denounce the rapid depopulation that is taking place in the city center, where the inhabitants can no longer live because of the housing prices and life in general, which is too expensive. For this reason, they move to the mainland.

Venezia, the city of love, culture and beauty, which everyone should visit once in their lifetime, is also the city of mass tourism, too expensive for the inhabitants, with artisansal shops threatened and replaced by fake, cheap souvenir shops. Venice is at risk of transforming itself into a museum.  

Next to the display board, which now marks 52,000, there are the dates of previous years. I suggest you stop and read them, to realize how much the number has decreased dramatically in a few years.