People have been saying that Venice only has a few more years for over 200 years now since the end of the republic, and it is still there, and still breathtakingly beautiful.
However, I have been to Venice 3 times in the last 10 years. People here arguing that Venice is "full of people" have not visited the city, but only the cities attractions. It is as simple as that. Even in the peak season when the city center is massively overcrowded by tourists, you (literally) only have to walk 10 minutes from Piazza San Marco to find yourself basically alone on lovely squares in the middle of the day. It is at the same time extremely beautiful and eerie, because you suddenly realize that the square is not only empty because there are no tourists there, but also because most of the apartment windows are blind, with nobody living behind them. Offside the tourist routes, Venice largely feels like a ghost town.
It is indeed sad, but if you stay in the city as a tourist long enough, you get why locals are leaving. The last time, we stayed there for 10 days in a small apartment, and starting with day 2, our hatred for the masses coming off the cruise ships like a biblical locust plague grew exponentially to a point where we completely avoided the city center between 10 in the morning and 9 in the evening.
However, I have been to Venice 3 times in the last 10 years. People here arguing that Venice is "full of people" have not visited the city, but only the cities attractions. It is as simple as that. Even in the peak season when the city center is massively overcrowded by tourists, you (literally) only have to walk 10 minutes from Piazza San Marco to find yourself basically alone on lovely squares in the middle of the day. It is at the same time extremely beautiful and eerie, because you suddenly realize that the square is not only empty because there are no tourists there, but also because most of the apartment windows are blind, with nobody living behind them. Offside the tourist routes, Venice largely feels like a ghost town.
It is indeed sad, but if you stay in the city as a tourist long enough, you get why locals are leaving. The last time, we stayed there for 10 days in a small apartment, and starting with day 2, our hatred for the masses coming off the cruise ships like a biblical locust plague grew exponentially to a point where we completely avoided the city center between 10 in the morning and 9 in the evening.