Hordes of tourists lean over the Rialto bridge as a fuchsia casket meant to represent the soul of Venice glides along the Grand Canal. At the bow of the water hearse, a local Venetian thespian holds a mask replicating his own face.
The sky is hazy lavender and the air off the lagoon is crisp. The boat carrying the pink casket is flanked by rowing guards who occasionally stop to raise their oars and tap them together as a salute. A man playing sorrowful music on a grand piano on a flat barge follows the cortege.
The boats stop in front of city hall where pallbearers dressed in black silk robes carry the casket to the foyer. ‘Venice, you aren’t dead, you are just tired,’ the thespian says as he delivers the eulogy – an ode to this magical city, read in Venetian dialect. Then, because this is Venice where no one takes themselves too seriously, the organisers stomp on the wooden casket and baptise the crowd with champagne as a flag of a phoenix is pulled from the splintered wood.
The mock funeral was all in fun, but it was meant to symbolise a serious problem. In October, the population of Venice dropped below 60,000 permanent residents, down from 73,000 in 1993. Locals are leaving at an alarming pace, pushed out by tourists and lured to sell by high real estate prices. When the population numbers started falling, residents prophesied that when it fell to below 60,000 it would mean the end of Venice.
A neon display in a nearby pharmacy keeps the toll, adjusting for births and deaths. ‘We are turning into a city of ghosts,’ says Matteo Secchi, head of a group called Venessia.com which organised the funeral. ‘At this rate, in 30 years there won’t be a single Venetian left.’
That, of course, doesn’t mean Venice will be empty. On the contrary, this city is jam-packed with tourists. Some 55,000 people visit every day. Tourism is not a new problem. The city’s unique architecture and canal streets have captivated people for centuries. It was the most important stop on the Grand Tour in the 19th century when the European and American cultural élite educated themselves by visiting places of note.
I am a new reader of CNN Traveller, I founded it just a few days ago on the Internet.
This article represents a perfect explanation about what Venice is. It is so sad to read that scientists are having to make efforts to find a real Venetian. Nevertheless, Venice has a great history and the people who live there are awesome (even if they are from other places) .
Thank you CNN Traveller for doing again an excellent job!