Can a €5 access fee make Venice visitable again, or is it just ‘a money-making exercise’?

A report from the canal city, just weeks after its ‘tourist tax’ has been imposed

A gondolier sails with two customers near San Marco Square in Venice, on April 25, 2024. The new strategy to lower the number of tourists visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site calls for day-trippers to pay a five-euro ticket to enter the historic city centre and is due to start on April 25. (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

Roslyn Dee

Alongside Fondamente Nove, the broad quayside walkway that runs like a ribbon along the northern edge of the island of Venice, the vaporetti waterbuses come and go with relentless frequency all day every day, transporting locals and visitors alike from one side of the city to the other and further afield.

From here, there are wonderful views out across the lagoon towards the cypress tree fringed San Michele cemetery island, with Murano, of glass-blowing fame, visible just beyond.