Fall

I must say Venetians had good reasons to put their (remaining) money on tourism.

After hundreds of years of international trading, the city is a fine mixture of various people and culture – Slavic, Latin, Greek, Arabic, and what not. The weather of Venice is modest and inviting. Certainly a good place to spend the winter for rich families from central or northern Europe.

For that reason, the Republic was drowned – by tourists rather than sea water. Flats and apartments were turned into hotels. Shops and restaurants were only interested in rich European travellers. Everything became very expensive and hardly affordable by local Venetians (who were, for obvious reasons, those bell boys, porters, shopkeepers, and waiters). They were forced to live in some marginal areas around the city. In short, the good old Venice was literally split into two parts: A rich and extravagant part for the display to outsiders, and a poor sordid one occupied by local residents. To them, Venice had died –its soul was used in exchange for materialistic subsistence.

The story sounds familiar, eh?