Venice authorities are mulling a plan to restrict the use of wheeled luggage in a bid to reduce noise pollution in the lagoon city, local media reported Thursday.
Under the plan, which still needs to be approved, from May 2015 visitors to Venice would be allowed to use only trolley bags sporting pneumatic casters, while the more common and noisier plastic or solid rubber wheels would be banned.
The new restrictions would also reportedly apply to local businesses using trolleys to transport goods, but not to city residents.
Infringement fines would range from 100 to 500 euros, media said.
The proposed measure comes in response to complaints from inhabitants that the noise of tourists pulling luggage trolleys along walkways and over canal bridges prevents them from sleeping at night. It is being sponsored by Venice Special Commissioner Vittorio Zappalorto and, if approved, will be included in the urban planning and building regulations for the city.
The restrictions would coincide with the start of Milan Expo 2015, impacting those planning to take advantage of the Lombard capital's proximity to Venice to visit the lagoon city as well. This is not the first time local and national authorities have tried to tackle the negative effects of tourism in one of Italy's most popular destinations for foreign visitors.
In August Venice launched a new campaign against the trend of attaching 'love locks' to the city's ancient and fragile bridges.
In the opening hours of 'Unlock Your Love' nearly 2,000 coloured cards featuring a heart-shaped open padlock were affixed particularly in the areas of Rialto, San Marco and Accademia inviting sweethearts not to lock padlocks to the bridges as a 'symbol' of their love.
"Almost all those who attach a padlock are not aware that they are committing an act of vandalism, particularly in a fragile city such as Venice," said writer Alberto Toso Fei, who was behind the campaign.
This was the second time Venice waged war against the popular phenomenon after an initial campaign in 2011.
However on that occasion, city authorities took issue with those selling the padlocks, while this time the aim was to challenge the couples who actually place them on the bridges.
Other ideas mooted by officials to 'protect' the city from the millions of Italian and foreign tourists who visit every year include introducing an entrance fee and placing a limit on the number of people who can visit at any one time. And in April this year, cruise lines said their biggest ships would give Venice a wide berth from November 30 after a long-running row about their effect on the delicate lagoon city.
The issue returned to the fore after a regional administrative court lifted government restrictions on cruise ships imposed in response to the 2012 shipwreck of the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio in which 32 people were killed. Over 650 cruise ships pass through Venice annually.
Environmentalists have long warned that the lagoon surrounding the city, itself a UNESCO heritage site, is at great risk.
In addition, liners ushering tourists into the heart of Venice disrupt its extremely fragile foundation and medieval monuments by displacing massive amounts of water in the shallow lagoon.
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