During this summer of opening, after periods of lockdown, Venice was flooded with tourists, with estimates of as many as 80,000 visits a day. The problem of overtourism, combined with the impossibility of allowing crowds to gather in the city's narrow calli due to Covid, has made the strategy of limiting access to the city popular again.

In the 1970s, upwards of 150,000 people resided in the lagoon city. Today, it's home to just over 50,000, with the population shrinking by 1,000 each year — half from older people dying, half from people leaving due to soaring housing costs and lack of job opportunities.