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Venice a Shell of Itself as Tourists Flee Virus

Associated Press

   VENICE, ITALY - 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   Mann's fictional "Death in Venice" has been replaced by a real life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 fatality 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.
   Venice has remained quiet ever since. Only residents and intrepid
   tourists wearing a different type of mask, surgical ones, remain to
   take advantage of a hauntingly beautiful jewel of a city that otherwise
   would be jammed. They have the place to themselves: Rialto, the Bridge
   of Sighs, the pigeons of Piazza San Marco.

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