AP reports from Venice in Italy that the Carnival period in Venice usually marks the start of peak season in one of the world’s most visited cities, with hordes of tourists piling onto vaporettos to cruise the Grand Canal, strolling through cobblestone streets and lingering in picturesque cafes.
Venice in the time of coronavirus, though, is a shell of itself, with empty piazzas, shuttered basilicas and gondoliers idling their days away. The cholera epidemic that raged quietly through Venice in Thomas Mann’s fictional “Death in Venice” has been replaced by a real-life fear of COVID-19.
Venice, a UNESCO world heritage site, had already been brought to its knees last year when near-record high tides flooded a lagoon city which is used to frequent spells of “aqua alta.” Officials had hoped that tourists would return as soon as the waters receded, and they did to some degree. Hotels were at 95% capacity on the last weekend of Carnival celebrations last month.
But then the virus hit, claiming its first Italian victim in the Veneto region and some of the first positive cases in Venice’s historic center. The regional president closed Venice’s decadent Carnival celebrations with two days to go, forcing revelers in ball gowns and painted masks to cancel their parties.
Read the full report at thenationalherald.com
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
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