THIS DREAM TICKET IS A NIGHTMARE FOR VISITORS

VENICE has started selling tickets for day visitors to access the canal city in a long-planned effort to charge day travellers and limit tourism.

The tickets, which can be purchased online, will be required to visit the city without an overnight stay on certain peak days in the spring and summer. The fee will be €5 and will be in effect from from 8.30am to 4pm.

The aim is to manage visitor influx more effectively.

Over the last several years, the city has undergone preservation efforts, including declaring the waterways around Venice a ‘national monument’ and banning large cruise ships from passing through its canals.

Meanwhile, further south in Puglia, authorities are also considering a tourist tax.

The heel of Italy is known for its picturesque towns and villages, and its specific cuisine, everything from delicate pizzas — the best you’ll taste anywhere — to over-sized plates of mussels gratin. If you happen to be in the area, ask for a caffe speciale: espresso over ice with almond milk and a shot of brandy. Then ask for another one.

The towns come with wildly ornate churches, elegant squares and odd beehive-shaped houses called trulli. No one is quite sure how these strange looking abodes came into being — they are dry stone, with roofs made of flat stones.

One theory is that they were defence against an earthquake, as the area lies close to a faultline. Earthquakes can be quite frightening. As one victim told me, ‘It’s like leaving your house, closing the door, then having your house follow you down the street.’

Another reason for the odd shape of the buildings could be, ironically enough, for tax reasons. And many Puglians who owe their living to the tourist trade are convinced that the authorities’ measures are nothing to do with preserving the buildings, but all to do with lining their pockets.

They say locally that visitors to Puglia cry three times: when they arrive, when they leave and when they get on the scales.

You can probably add a fourth time — when they realise they’re being gouged by the local council.