Are we ready to get a ticket to visit Venice? We say it so often: some of our cities are true open-air museums, but how would we feel if we, actually, had to pay a ticket to walk their streets? Well, we’re just about to find out because this is exactly what visitors to one of Italy’s most famous destinations, Venice, will soon have to do.

The relationship between La Serenissima and tourism has always been one of love and hate: love, because much of the city’s wealth comes from tourists and the billions of euro industry that revolves around them, from hospitality to cultural events, from museums to commerce.