10 o'clock in the morning.
San Marco Square is empty.
Ravenous seagulls and other plump pigeons have taken over the premises.
The gondoliers are staring into space, no longer even bothering to hail passers-by.
Regulars meet in small groups around the cafes.
Old ladies stagger under the weight of their shopping bags, returning from the Rialto market.
For those who have known Venice before March 2020, the contrast is striking.
A dry city, surrounded by brackish water which, ironically, has never been so clear.
Read also: Confidential Venice, literary walk in the labyrinth of the Serenissima
In the absence of travelers, Venice scratches the bottom of the drawer.
Of the 3 billion euros annually reported by tourism, 2.5 have vanished, crisis requires.
With dramatic consequences on the population, 65% of whom depend directly on the sector, against 15% for the rest of Italy.
Luxury hotels have done everything to limit breakage, adopting different strategies.
Aman Venice, 5-star with prices around 950 € per night, but also the legendary Danieli, or the Saint-Regis, have preferred to offer exclusive offers and additional services to travelers rather than selling off their overnight stays.
Behind the scenes, we hope that the British, French, Swiss and Germans will soon be able to come back, the Italians not being allowed to go from one region to another to go on a spree for a weekend.
Read also: Hotel Aman Venice in Venice, the expert opinion of
Le Figaro
Towards a
"
new beginning
"
?
Empty restaurants, aborted carnival, canceled festivals ... For a year, the heart of social life for Venetians has been beating to the rhythm of restrictions.
Mattia Cantonetti, chef and owner of Il Oltro Giardino restaurant in Mestre, opened in the midst of the crisis.
If times are tough, he tries to stay the course: “
You have to constantly adapt your cuisine to the constraints of take-out and put your ambitions aside for a while.
With the crisis, people realized how difficult it was to eat well and cook at home.
It should be seen as a godsend, even a new beginning.
"
Same story with bars, where the traditional
aperitivo
has adapted.
Today, on the once crowded terraces, we sip the first spritz of the day at 10 am.
Legend has it that until the 1980s, the Venetians consumed around 200 liters of wine per year (and per person!).
Mara Sartore, owner of the Vino Vero wine bar, rather sees the glass half full:
“The health crisis will have weighed on our turnover, but the fact of serving good wines and nice plates made the difference.
Last summer, we were able to welcome much more sustainable tourism: families, couples, small groups who came by car, and the total absence of the hundreds of cruise passengers dumped on our shores by boats every day.
For the first time in a very long time, the city has regained a human dimension
”.
According to some restaurateurs, the crisis will have at least allowed the inhabitants to reclaim the premises, and had the advantage of operating a natural sorting among the establishments.
Those who offered quality products and a real boost of soul saw a returning clientele of regulars upon reopening.
Others will have a harder time getting over it.
"Mass tourism will not survive the pandemic"
Simone Venturini, Deputy Mayor of Venice in charge of economic development
According to Simone Venturini, deputy mayor of Venice in charge of economic development, “
mass tourism will not survive the pandemic, in particular thanks to the development of new flow management technologies making it possible to better manage attendance at tourist sites
.
»Digital reservation system to access the historic center, counting sensors positioned at the main entrances to the city, artificial intelligence to better organize urban transport lines, access contribution for people who do not spend the night there from 2022… A hell of a battle plan, therefore, coupled with an international communication campaign conveyed on social networks through the hashtag #EnjoyRespectVenezia.
And Simone Venturini adds: “
The will of the municipal administration is to make 2021 a year of hope and rebirth, through the celebrations of the 1600th anniversary of the founding of Venice.
International events will kick off in March and involve the city's cultural, academic and social institutions and realities.
".
If most events are maintained, they will be an opportunity to put this new political strategy to the test with a population that expects firm and concrete measures for the future.
Turning the crisis into a godsend to reinvent itself, Venice could not have asked for better.
6 p.m.
Lights out on the Serenissima.
Some manage to scavenge a quarter of an hour before returning home backwards, while others take the risk of gathering in the back room, all lights off.
In a few minutes, a veil of silence falls over the city, which will thicken until the early hours of the day.
Venice has definitely lost none of its splendor.
We see it as deserted.
But maybe she just stopped being saturated ...