First day of testing the entrance ticket to Venice: over 80 thousand people have registered their presence in the city today, 25 April.

However, only 7 thousand, one in ten, according to data updated yesterday afternoon, have paid the 5 euro voucher to access the historic centre.

All other accesses are for people exempt from the tax (Venetian citizens, workers, students and other categories), required to register on the online platform but not to pay. Among these, 30,300 are guests of the accommodation facilities, 9,450 are Venetians, potential "day" holidaymakers.

It is an attack on the gazebo for payment or exemption from the entrance fee outside the Venice train station. Added to the many tourists and commuters on holiday are the ranks of journalists who have come from much of the world to study the first ticket designed to visit a city.

With the controls tight leading to the corridors to access the nearby Ponte degli Scalzi or the Lista di Spagna obligatory passages for San Marco, today is his feast: he is the Patron Saint of Venice. There is a bit of amazement, few were prepared for such an imposing machine at one of the main terminals of the city but no one, for now, is complaining. Tourists, with exemption or not, are divided on the amount to be paid.

«I apologize for the inconvenience but we have to do something - said the mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro - we cannot just talk, we have to try to do something and now we are doing it because we have the duty and the task of leaving and preserving the city for the next generations." "The fear of change is legitimate - underlined Brugnaro - but this too can be used to improve but if fear blocks everything there is no progress, there is no future". «The experimentation will be medium-long - explained Brugnaro -, we must collect data and information to then calibrate the system and offer services».

(Unioneonline/D)