Dstandish's Weblog

Venice City Council is charging most day-trippers €5 per day to enter the city from 25 April 2024, which is ironically the ‘Liberation Day’ public holiday in Italy. The charge also applies for day-trippers visiting Venice on 28 April for the Pope’s visit to the city and mass in front of St. Mark’s Church (except residents of the Veneto region and some other exemptions listed below).

Payment points have be created at Piazzale Roma and in the forecourt of Venice train station. Payments can be made at 30,000 ‘PuntoLis’ kiosks, using the dedicated app or can be made through the official Venice City Council website: Venice Access Fee.

Travellers who stay overnight in the city or metropolitan area and pay the tourist tax do not need to pay. No booking daily threshold for day-trippers or other visitors is planned during 2024. A total of 29 days in 2024 have been identified as dates when day-trippers need to pay to enter. The booking dates range from 25 April to 30 April, from 1 to 5 of May, then every weekend in May, the last four weekends in June (8-9, 15-16, 22-23, 29-30), and the first two weekends in July (6-7, 13-14). On those dates, it is necessary for day-trippers to book before entering the city between 8.30 and 16.00 using a muti-lingual booking system, which has operated since 16 January 2024. Bookers receive a QR code or an email, which is randomly checked at entry points by officials wearing bibs and carrying an identification cards.

Exemptions have been designated for smaller islands, including Murano and the Lido. But these islands need to be visited without passing through the ancient city centre. Anyone passing through Piazzale Roma, the Tronchetto car park or the Maritime Station only does not need to pay. Venice residents can show an identity card as proof of residence and do not need to book. They can also apply to have visiting friends from outside Venice designated as exempt. Yet this introduces local state regulation of friendships! Residents of the Veneto region need to book, but not pay. Other Italians from different regions of the country have to book and pay. Childeren under 14 years old and people with disabilities are exempt. Nevertheless, it is outrageous that day-trippers who are required to pay and do not face fines ranging from €50 to €300. Moreover, Venice City Council’s website confirmed that anyone presenting false information related to booking could face criminal reporting. Futher details about booking, fees, sanctions and exemptions are on this website: Access Fee

“It is the first time in the world that you do something like this, you make a city bookable,” declared Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro in this report: Venice to experiment with entry fee, visitor cap from April 2024. Local protests against the booking system regulation have been held and more are planned. For example, the ARCI Veneto association plans to distribute a symbolic ‘passport’ to tourists to highlight the “dubious constitutional legitimacy” of the law and “unequal treatment between different categories of visitors”: Venezia a pagamento, il 25 aprile si entra con il ticket

On 25 April, about 300 residents protested against the entry ticket and attempted to ram a ticket entry booth, but were forced back by police: https://twitter.com/i/status/178343656663694146

Other protests against the entry ticket were also held around the city on 25 April. Placing restrictions on entering the city, ending the free movement of people and discriminating against poorer day-trippers to Venice are measures that have been consistently opposed on this website since the regulation was approved: Venice City Council approves regulation to charge and limit day-trippers to Venice and lagoon islands