Vandals have been wreaking havoc in Venice

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, travel has finally opened up again. And people are certainly taking advantage of their new-found freedom.

Venice bearing the brunt

In recent weeks, there have been several incidents of bad behaviour on behalf of tourists with some caught skinny dipping in the city's famed canals. On Thursday night, two American tourists decided to swim naked in a canal, into which neighbouring houses drain their sewage, in the residential district of Castello.

Venice has also been suffering from multiple incidents of vandalism, although it has not been confirmed whether these acts were performed by tourists.

During the night of May 15 and 16, a portion of the façade of the Redentore church was vandalised with pink paint. A few days earlier, another church, Sant'Antonin, was also vandalised with graffiti, according to local paper La Nuova.

One of the bridges on Fondamenta dei Garzotti had blue paint poured over it by an apparent artist.

Authorities have been able to track some of the vandals down with the help of CCTV. According to CNN, they were taking part in a street art event.

They are now hoping to identify the skinny dippers in the same manner. Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, is outraged. He wrote on Twitter:

Scarring to the Basilica of the Most Holy Redeemer, stained a symbolic place of the Venetians’ devotion and their traditions.

Those responsible must not go unpunished, they must pay! It is essential that criminal powers be given to the Justice of the Peace as soon as possible!

Alongside a photo of the damage to the Rio Marin bridge, he added:

It will take hours to restore at a cost we can't yet calculate. We should keep these barbarians in a cell for at least a couple of nights.

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