‘I live in Europe’s busiest city – it’s like a mini Disney but I still love it’

One of Europe‘s most popular travel destinations has been compared to “Disney World” because of the huge number of tourists it attracts, with one resident complaining the city is becoming “less livable for them”.

Residents of Venice and tourists who have visited had their say after a user on question-and-answer website Quora asked whether locals like living there.

One commenter, who says in his bio that he’s visited 30 European countries and many others, wrote: “Many do, but the permanent population of the city is a fraction [of] what it was in its heyday, for a variety of reasons.

“It’s sort of like living in Disney World. And like Parisians, the locals want to be somewhere else in August, and the throng of tourists can be irritating, but…Venice is unique, beautiful, and fascinating.”

But like other major holiday hubs, the rising rent prices have become a source of tension between residents and visitors in the northern Italian city, and one local says they’re seeing shops that cater for the community disappear.

“We’re not many anymore, just a bit more than 50,000 and every year more and more residents leave the city and go living elsewhere, as the city becomes less liveable for us,” they said.

“Shops that sell products for residents close, only to leave space to shops dedicated to the usual tourist stuff. I am a modeller, only a single plastic models shop remained in the city, just until last year, when it closed because prices got too high for him and remaining was not an option.”

They said Venetians themselves have become “pretty much another attraction for the tourists”, claiming: “Guides bring them where most of the residents live just to show them ‘the real Venice‘. Yeah…”

Another person, who lived in Venice for nearly six years, says after a few months they were able to find the best local haunts to enjoy – but said the pace of life is very different from other major cities.

“The only big difference is that sometimes you have to take a boat, but people mainly walk everywhere,” they said. “I must say though that there is a different perception of time.

“If in a ‘normal’ city you would feel pressured by taking the train or the bus, in Venice you go with the flow and it doesn’t really matter if you are five minutes late because the boat (or gondolino, the gondola that takes you across the canal for 0.50€) was a wee late.

“I believe it is a great city for kids as they can play without worrying about being run over by a car. I wouldn’t recommend it to an old person though as there are not many lifts in buildings and even going to the supermarket can be a journey.”

They added that though they loved living there, they knew people who hated it, “so it really depends on your character and attitude”.

The impact of overtourism has become a major issue for residents in recent times, with some lamenting that Venice has been turned into an “amusement park”, on the brink of collapse.

Venicians have vented their fury about “disgusting” streets and “crazy prices” because of the estimated 30 million that descend on the 160-square-mile city each year. 

In 2021, authorities banned cruise ships from entering the historic centre via the Giudecca canal amid concerns about the damage they and the pollution they produce were causing to Venice’s canals.