Tens of thousands of revellers, many dressed in masks and period costume, packed into St Mark's Square for the "flight of the angel" on Sunday which marks the traditional opening of the Carnival of Venice.
On the twelfth chime of midday from St Mark's Campanile, fearless 19-year-old Irene Rizzi leapt from the famous bell tower, attached to a wire 80 metres above the huge crowd that had gathered for one of the world's most celebrated carnivals.
SEE ALSO: In pictures – Venice Carnival gets off to flying start
The carnival, which lasts until February 9th, is thought to have started in 1162 after a military victory. Abandoned for decades, it was resurrected in 1980.
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Photo: AFP
The famed Italian city of Venice will restrict tour group sizes from summer 2024 in an effort to regulate crowds of tourists that throng the streets.
The Italian city of Venice announced on Saturday new regulations on the size of tourist groups to reduce the number of huge crowds and improve the lives of locals.
The measure will come into effect from June. The use of loudspeakers will also be banned as they “create confusion” the city said in a statement.
Elizabeth Pesce, the city’s security councillor said: “This is an important measure to improve the management of organized groups and promote sustainable tourism.”
The rule is an amendment to the police and urban security regulation dedicated to ‘regulating the methods of conducting visits for accompanied groups, with particular attention to the needs to protect residents and promoting pedestrian mobility’.
Simone Venturini, tourism councillor for the city added: “The measure is part of a broader framework of interventions aimed at ensuring a greater balance between the needs of those who live in the city and those who come to visit it.”
He concluded the introduction of the new rule on June 1st will give operators enough time to organise themselves.
The regulation was announced just five weeks after the city said it would introduce a fee of €5 for day trippers starting from April 25th to May 5th this year. The fee will also apply for the rest of the weekends in May and June as well as the first two weeks of July. Tickets will be sold via an online platform that’s expected to be up later this month.
Both the moves come after UNESCO warned it could list the city as an at-risk heritage site, partly due to the risk of over-tourism.
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