9. Venice ll - canals & tourism

As you probably know, Venice’s unique charm lies in its winding canals, gondolas, bridges & eclectic architecture. Known as "the floating city", it is best known for having no roads, with buildings built directly on/in the water. Due to rising sea levels and the weight of its buildings, some scientists claim that it will completely sink by 2100.

Venice joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1987 as an "extraordinary architectural masterpiece". However exploding volumes of tourism, (with over 30 mil visitors last year, and roughly 90% of them day trippers), have left UNESCO just shy of adding it to the list of "heritage sites in danger". Venice is exploring ways to reduce tourism - currently it is imposing a small tariff on day trippers who do not stay in Venice overnight. Not sure this will do much good.Leggi altro