With the world opening up more people are hitting the roads and the skies as summer rolls in and the trend of “revenge travel” is in play. One popular destination is getting its share of rowdy tourists as Venice has seen incidents of vandalism and misconduct from visitors.
Summer Tourists Are Vandalizing and Violating Preserved Sites in Venice
“Revenge travel” is basically making up for the travel time lost from COVID-19 restrictions. However, some tourists are going a little too far with their celebrations in Venice. The city is known for some historic sites, artwork, and architecture—all of which are preserved and protected. After all, most of this stuff has been around for centuries.
One incident occurred on May 26, 2022, and involved American tourists skinny dipping in a canal. Locally, the canals are used for sewage. It’s the equivalent of tourists going to swim in the Hudson River in New York City, so the locals of the Castello district were reasonably appalled.
Police are currently looking through CCTV footage to find the sewage swimmers.
A week earlier on May 15 and 16, the Redentore church—built during the Renaissance and designed by Andrea Palladio—was vandalized when a part of the white Istrian stone façade underneath the statue of St. Francis of Assisi was painted pink and drawn over. Things were made worse when a local tried to clean the façade only to cause further damage by using water which allowed the paint to seep deeper into it.
That issue is being handled by government restorers. This time, CCTVs helped the police identify the vandals who defaced the long-standing piece as part of an art festival. A couple of days earlier, the Sant’Antonin church was also hit up with graffiti.
Luigi Brugnaro, mayor of Venice, spoke out about the vandalism on Twitter:
Sfregio alla Basilica del Santissimo Redentore, imbrattato un luogo simbolo della devozione dei veneziani e delle loro tradizioni.
I responsabili non devono restare impuniti,bisogna che "paghino"!È fondamentale che vengano dati, quanto prima, i poteri penali al Giudice di Pace! pic.twitter.com/7sLVT95nbR
— Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) May 16, 2022
Translated via Google, it reads:
“Scarring of the Basilica of the Most Holy Redeemer, stained a symbolic place of the Venetians’ devotion and their traditions. Those responsible must not go unpunished, they must “pay”! It is essential that criminal powers be given to the Justice of the Peace as soon as possible!”
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