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Venice holiday snaps snare iPad thief

A man has been arrested in Milan for stealing an iPad after the owner of the tablet discovered holiday snaps of the alleged thief in Venice. The owner managed to access the photos thanks to the device’s iCloud serivce.

Published: 22 April 2014 17:25 CEST

Venice holiday snaps snare iPad thief

The man was caught after taking photos with the stolen iPad while on holiday in Venice. Photo: Comando Provinciale Carabinieri Milano

The iPad was stolen from the owner’s parked car in the Barona border district of Milan at the end of March, according to the Milan edition of Corriere della Sera.

At first the 52-year-old owner paid no attention to the new photos appearing on his phone, which he was able to access thanks to the iCloud service, a device which lets you access your music, photos, documents through other connected devices.

However, when a photo of a mystery man in Piazza San Marco in the heart of Venice popped up on his phone alarm bells started ringing. Suspecting the man had something to do with the theft of his iPad, he decided to report him to police.

When he presented the photo to police, they immediately recognized the alleged thief as a 25-year-old local with previous convictions for theft and receiving stolen goods.

According to reports, the man initially denied the allegations but fell silent when he was shown photos of his wife and son on holiday.

He was then accompanied by police to his home where he retrieved the tablet and then restored it to its rightful owner.

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'Make Venice more liveable': Floating city prepares to trial 'tourist tax'

As of Thursday – a public holiday in Italy – day visitors will for the first time have to buy a €5 ticket, monitored by inspectors carrying out spot checks at key points in the UNESCO world heritage site.

Venice is one of the world’s top tourist destinations, with 3.2 million visitors staying overnight in the historic centre in 2022 – dwarfing the resident population of just 50,000.

Tens of thousands more pour into the city’s narrow streets for the day, often from cruise ships, to see sights including St Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge.

The aim of the tickets is to persuade day trippers to come during quieter periods, to try to thin out the worst of the crowds, the local council has said.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How will Venice’s ‘tourist tax’ work?

Initially, tickets will only be required on 29 busy days throughout 2024, mostly weekends from May to July.

But the scheme is being closely watched as tourist destinations worldwide grapple with surging numbers of visitors, who boost the local economy but risk overwhelming communities and damaging fragile ecosystems and historical sites.

READ ALSO: What’s the difference between Italy’s city taxes and new ‘tourist tax’?

Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, has described the city’s scheme as “an experiment, and the first time it’s been done anywhere in the world”.

“Our aim is to make Venice more liveable,” he told reporters earlier this month.

Tourists walking towards Venice's St Mark's Square

Tourists walking towards Venice’s St Mark’s Square in July 2023. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP

UNESCO warning

Venice, spread over more than 100 small islands and islets in northeastern Italy, is considered one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

The UN cultural body UNESCO listed the city and its lagoon as a world heritage site in 1987, citing it as an “extraordinary architectural masterpiece”.

But UNESCO threatened last year to put Venice on its list of heritage in danger, citing mass tourism and also rising water levels attributed to climate change.

Venice only escaped the ignominy after local authorities agreed the new ticketing system.

The idea had long been debated, but repeatedly postponed over concerns it would seriously dent tourist revenue and compromise freedom of movement.

READ ALSO: ‘It’s not Disneyland’: What Venice residents really think of new ‘tourist tax’

During a debate on the plan last September, opposition councillors cast the measure as a hastily arranged concession to UNESCO that would not have any impact.

“Fifty euros might have done something,” said one, Gianfranco Bettin.

In 2021, Venice had already imposed a ban on massive cruise ships from which thousands of day-trippers emerge daily, rerouting them to a more distant industrial port.

It has also introduced a tax for overnight visitors.

Tourists crowd the Ponte della Paglia bridge in Venice on June 5th, 2021.

Tourists crowd the Ponte della Paglia bridge in Venice. Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP.

No queues

Venice’s mayor has promised the new system will be imposed with a light touch with “very soft controls” and “without queues”, rejecting speculation the city would be installing barriers or turnstiles in the streets.

Controllers will be stationed in and around the city’s main entrances, notably the Santa Lucia train station, performing spot checks on visitors.

Tourists without their ticket will be asked to purchase one on arrival, with the help of local operators.

OPINION: Why more of Italy’s top destinations must limit tourist numbers

But they could also risk fines ranging from €50 to €300.

The “Venice Access Fee” targets only daily tourists entering the old town between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm, with tourists staying in hotels, minors under 14, and the disabled among those exempt.

For the time being, there is no ceiling on the number of tickets – downloaded in the form of a QR code from an official website, distributed each day.

By AFP’s Gildas LE ROUX

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