Venice visitors could face £440 fine for wearing a bikini

TOURISTS caught wearing a bikini in Venice will be hit with a hefty fine under the city’s new ‘decorum’ rules.

Fines of up to 00 euros (£440) will also be imposed on visitors tempted to take a dip in the canals or those caught ‘sitting or lying down on the steps of bridges and in the doorways of historic monuments, as well as in front of shop windows’.

In a bid to crack down on anti-social behaviour, the city council also approved rules to punish revellers drinking outside bars at night. A sliding scale of Asbo-style penalties will be introduced starting at 2 euros (£22). In the most extreme cases, tourists can be ordered out of the city.

The Italian city hosts around 2 million tourists a year, of whom 14million spend just one day there, crowding the alleys around its canals. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said: ‘A tourist in Venice must be respectful and aware that in the case of bad behaviour he will be expelled from the city.’

In February, the council voted to charge day-trippers an entrance fee of around £2.60 to help pay for the city’s upkeep.