Venetians were up in arms over a tourist’s brazen decision to swim across the famed Grand Canal in an apparent effort to win an orienteering race over the weekend.
Footage shared online showed the unnamed visitor paddling across the waterway near the Rialto Bridge to astonishment from locals.
Dressed in a wetsuit, the man clambers up the bank via a dock meant for gondoliers and runs off, leaving bystanders perplexed.
Witnesses speculated that he was either taking part in an orienteering competition in the city on Saturday or training for an Ironman competition, per Corriere della Serra.
The outlet condemned the recent tide of what it called ‘boorish’ ‘disrespectful behaviour’ by tourists visiting the Floating City.
Residents braced last month as the city was overrun with thousands of visitors filling the streets for its iconic Carnival.
‘But why do we have to live like this?’, one X user said in the growing chorus of locals pushing back on perceived overtourism.
‘Shouldn’t we stop all the events that attract crowds of tourists? The city is full anyway, is it necessary to make it unlivable at these levels?’.
The Venetian authorities have sought to regulate the flow of visitors coming into the city with a controversial entrance fee following a successful trial last year.
Tourists will be charged a €5 fee every Friday to Sunday and on public holidays, between April 18 and July 27 this year.
The levy does not apply to people staying in hotels in Venice, who are already charged a lodging tax.
Exemptions also apply to children under 14, residents of the region, students, workers and people visiting relatives, among others.
The day trip fee could rise to 10 euros if tourists book fewer than four days in advance, however.
Venice’s efforts to manage the 30million visiting tourists it receives each year comes amid growing backlash from residents.
But critics have said the fee misses the point, ignoring the more fundamental issue of short-stay Airbnb rentals keeping rents high and deterring permanent residents.
Matteo Secchi, president of the Venice residents’ activist group, said the new fee would effectively turn the city into ‘Disneyland’.
‘Making visitors pay to get in turns Venice into a museum or a theme park rather than a city where people live, go to the supermarket and drop their kids off at school,’ he said.
The comments were echoed by Corriere della Serra, which also wrote on the announcement of the original entry fee system that, ‘Venice is becoming more and more like Disneyland’ with guests expected to pay a small fee to stay.
Locals reprised complaints that the policy had not tackled the key issues in August 2024, after the initial trial concluded.
Giovanni Andrea Martini, a Venice councillor for the opposition, said the policy ‘has had absolutely no impact’.
‘In fact, we have data showing that, on certain days when the fee was in place, visitor numbers were 5,000 higher than on the same days in 2023. We knew it wouldn’t work – they were just desperate to appease Unesco,’ he told the Guardian.
Tour guide Alejandro told the Guardian that a subsequent policy on limiting groups to 25 just meant that he toured with 24 visitors while 25 walked a few metres in front, with a second guide.
‘It would be nicer to all be together – instead, the guide in the first group is doing the talking and I’m just making sure we don’t lose each other.’
Plans to introduce fees on day tourists were originally raised in 2019 but postponed due to the pandemic.
In 2022, Venice finally made plans to charge tourists €10 to enter the city all year round but ultimately scrapped the policy, with Venturini citing ‘resistance’.
When the policy was finally brought in last year, between April 25 and mid-July, the city raised £1.8mn in additional revenues, according to city data.
Officials said the money would be used for essential services, which cost more in a city traversed by canals, including rubbish removal and maintenance.
