Tourists line a street in Venice, Italy, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Venice collected 37 million euros in lodging taxes in 2023, with hotels charging guests between 1 and 5 euros.
Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy – When boaters start complaining about the tourists flooding this famous seaside resort where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce stayed two weeks ago after their Paris concert series at Villa Sola Cabiati in Tremezzo, you know, that you have a problem problem.
“There are days when traffic comes to a standstill and you can’t move,” our driver told us. He makes a living driving tourists up and down the lake to take in the famous mountain views and 19th-century villas like Villa del Balbianello, home to parts of “Casino Royale” and “Star Wars.” : Episode II” were filmed.
He considers himself lucky to be a boater: he feels sorry for the poor tourists renting cars or trying to find a hard-to-find taxi.
“Some days it can take an hour to cover 10 kilometers [about 6 miles]” he said, noting that not only can the tiny two-lane roads not handle the traffic, but they also can’t handle the larger cars that are being built. “In many cities, traffic can only flow in one direction, so everyone has to wait,” he said.
I can’t live with them, I can’t live without them
Italy is caught in an envious trap: it cannot live without tourists but is struggling to cope with the influx, especially after Covid. Sixty million tourists flooded the country last year and pumped enormous amounts of money into the economy. According to Statista, travel and tourism accounted for 10.2% of Italy’s GDP in 2022. The sector employs about 4.4 million people, about 16% of total employment.
A general image shows the main facade of the Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda on March 30, 2024 in Rome, Italy.
Emanuele Cremaschi | Getty Images
The problem of “too many tourists” may seem like a problem a country would want to have, but in recent years the influx of visitors has become so great that Italian authorities have had to take measures to prevent damage to centuries-old structures that couldn’t cope with the rush of so many visitors. Venice, for example, charges day travelers who do not stay overnight a fee of 5 euros to enter the city.
Want to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in Milan? Good luck: Tickets sell out weeks in advance, and to avoid irreparable damage to the painting, visitors are limited to about 30 visitors at a time for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Not only are there too many tourists, there are not enough people to serve them.
The Italian Association of Employment Agencies (Assolavoro) noted that there is a shortage of staff this summer for the hotel and beach sectors, which are expected to see a new record number of tourists. There is a shortage of cooks and waiters in the Marche. Around 25,000 seasonal workers are needed in Sardinia.
Italy a bargain? Not quite, but there is a lot of value
Food is still surprisingly affordable, at least compared to New York prices. You can get an espresso in Milan, an hour away, for 1 euro (about $1.10). Croissants for two or three euros.
At the famed Trattoria Milanese in central Milan, a generous portion of the city’s two most famous dishes—veal Milanese and osso bucco with risotto Milanese—cost just about $30 to $35 apiece, and can be had for much less in less famous places . Excellent local wines can be purchased in restaurants for $20 to $30 and in supermarkets for $10.
Even Milan’s famous bars aren’t exactly stratospheric. At Camparino in the Galleria, one of Italy’s temples of cocktail culture, you can enjoy a Negroni or Aperol Spritz for $20, prepared by ridiculously good-looking 25-year-old waiters in formal attire catering to the over-dressed crowd, the past strolls past, on the way to an evening at the opera at La Scala.
Due to the influx of visitors, it is difficult to get reservations. Here on Lake Como, it’s still almost impossible to get a reservation at the Veranda Restaurant at one of George Clooney’s favorite haunts, Villa D’Este (if you’re lucky enough to snag one, be sure to show up: No-Show There is a fee of 100 euros per person).
Clooney himself lives up the street in Villa Oleandra, which was featured in his film “Ocean’s Twelve.”
Of course, if you really want to hang out with the A-list, there are no bargains. The famous lakeside villa La Cassinella can be yours for 100,000 euros per week. A wedding at Villa Balbiano can cost 320,000 euros, but we’re talking about 110 people for 3 days. The same 110 wedding guests at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo cost 250,000 to 500,000 euros.
Thinking about calling Uber? forget it
Not only is it difficult to get a reservation, but also to get a taxi to get there. Or anywhere.
Sharing the phone numbers of reliable private taxi drivers is something of an obsession on Lake Como, where the streets are so narrow and crowded and taxis are few and far between that even short rides have to be booked in advance.
Even in Milan it was so difficult to get around that I just hired the taxi driver to pick us up from the airport for two days. I was confused that the only Uber options were high-priced black cars.
My driver flew into a rage when I mentioned Uber.
“These people are trying to steal taxi drivers’ jobs,” he shouted. “You’re taking my job. The politicians were paid to let them into the country.” He planned to go on strike next week with the other taxi drivers.
He doesn’t have to worry too much.
“The Uber service you know in North America, where private individuals drive their own cars, has been illegal in Italy since 2015,” travel writer Rick Steves said in a note to readers last year.
“Only licensed taxi and limousine drivers can provide this service. Therefore, in Italy, Uber offers a service (called Uber Black, Uber Van), but when you order a car from Uber, a licensed official driver of a black limousine with a luxury car will do it.” “If you don’t show up, the price will be higher than for a normal taxi,” advised Steves.
Much higher. Uber wanted to take me less than a mile, a 10-minute ride, to the center of Milan for 100 euros. I paid the taxi driver 170 euros for five hours.
Still, standing before the “Last Supper,” even if it only lasts 15 minutes, is one of those sublime experiences that makes the effort worthwhile.
I was glad it only took 15 minutes. I had to go out and call the restaurant we were going to that night to make a reservation and make sure I had a taxi to get there. Staying as a tourist in Italy becomes a full-time job.
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2024-06-01 13:04:28
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