The city of Venice, Italy, with its famous waterways and beautifulbuildings is losing official residents at a rapid rate causing somepeople to hold a mock funeral on Saturday. But city officials saymillions of tourists still flock to the famous city and there are stillthousands of "unofficial" residents and there are efforts underway tobring people back.
Veniceis approaching the dread status of living museum, with a population nowbelow 60,000. Residents are being forced out of the historic center asthey search for cheaper housing and easier living conditions on themainland.
Real Venetians have become scarce and many say thecity is fast becoming nothing but a tourist destination. A group ofVenetian residents concerned about this marked the city's populationdecline with a mock funeral procession.
Gondolas and motorboatstook part in the event along Venice's Grand Canal. The leading gondolacarried a bright pink coffin symbolizing the death of the city. Onother boats, black-clad residents mourned.
Matteo Secchi, one of the organizers of the funeral for the demographic decline, says their message is clear.
"Wewant to restart Venice in a new concept of Venice life," said Secchi."We want to find new inhabitants of Venice because Venice is going tobe a Disneyland in a few years. A city needs to be visited but alsolived."
Fears have been mounting that Venice could, in a matter of years, belong only to tourists. Twenty million visit the city every year.
Cityofficals also point out that there are thousands of unofficialresidents of Venice: students and island inhabitants who don'tofficially register.
But City Councilor Mara Rumiz says authorities are aware they cannot ignore the problem of the shrinking population any longer.
Shesays it's clear that two problems need to be radically addressed, jobsand home. What must be avoided at all costs is that this city becomesnothing but a tourist destination.
The funeral for thedemographic decline took place at the same time as an internationalstudy on the origins of ancient Venetians. For the next few weeks,Venetian males are giving saliva swabs to try and determine where thenatives of the area came from. Venice is the center of the largerregion of Veneto.
The hope of all those who took part in boththe DNA tests and the funeral procession is that a databank will becreated of the real Venetian, who risks becoming extinct.