As Tourists Crowd Out Locals, Venice Faces 'Endangered' List

"On a recent fall morning, a large crowd clogged the steps at one of Venice's main tourist sites, the Rialto Bridge. But on this day, there was a twist: it was filled with Venetians, not tourists."

"'People are cheering and holding their carts in the air,' says Giovanni Claudio Di Giorgio, who helped organize the march with a grass-roots organization called Generazione '90."

"The carts he refers to are small shopping carts — the symbol of a true Venetian."

"'It started as a joke,' he says with a laugh. 'The idea was to put blades on the wheels! You know? Like Ben Hur. Precisely like that, you just go around and mow people down.'"

"Venice is on many bucket lists. But that's a problem. Up to 90,000 tourists crowd its streets and canals every day — far outnumbering the 55,000 permanent residents."