The Serene is no longer sad and is still in Italy. Tourists were back in large numbers, Saturday June 13 in Venice, for the reopening of the Doge's Palace after four months of pandemic, AFP noted.
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Italians and foreigners, there were hundreds of visitors lining up for more than 300 meters at Saint Mark's Square, in front of the counters of the Ducal Palace. A thousand internet bookings had been recorded for the reopening day, according to a local news agency.
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Describing this sudden influx, the Ansa agency even mentioned a "small assault" on the Ducal Palace. "There were people lining up at 8:00 this morning and, to be honest, we hoped so. It is a very strong emotion, like a first day of school, ”said Maria Cristina Gribaudi, president of the Venice Civic Museums Foundation.
Inside the palace, the mask is compulsory, signs everywhere encourage people to " keep their distance and all the rooms are controlled to avoid grouping of visitors.
Tourism, a vital asset for Italy
After months without tourists - or almost - this Saturday marks a clear change, with a city of Venice frequented almost normally, like an ordinary spring weekend.
Souvenir shops have reappeared on Saint Mark's Square, almost all of the shops and restaurants - including the historic Café Florian - have reopened.
Around the Rialto Canal, visitors concentrated in the alleys of the City of the Doges, and the famous gondolas and vaporetto loaded with passengers sailed again on the canals. "If the most spoken language is Italian, the Germans and, surprisingly, the French are numerous" , noted the agency Ansa.
As for Gabriella Belli, another responsible for the city's museums, she explained after the return of the first visitors: “We hope to have slow tourism in the future. It doesn't mean less tourism, but better, good organization. ”
While the Covid-19 epidemic now seems to be coming to an end (more than 34,000 dead) and the country has been advancing since early May in its deconfinement, monuments, famous buildings, museums and emblematic places are almost all reopened: the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Vatican Museums, the Borghese Gallery or the Capitoline Museums, the site of Pompeii, the Tower of Pisa, the cathedrals of Florence and Milan.
Italy, which hopes to revive the key tourism sector as quickly as possible and capture the maximum number of foreign visitors this summer, reopened its borders on June 3.