The winding streets, secret passages, and forgotten squares transfix those who dare to wander. Solace hides steps away from the rialto bridge and brings you to places like the Jewish Ghetto. You’ll find a free museum, somewhere nice to sit along a canal, then an overgrown and crumbling restaurant with pasta and prosecco.
Of course you should go there.
Venice is covered in water right now, no thanks to the relentless crowds. It’s hard not to destroy something beautiful, especially one that still seems mystical even when it’s overcrowded.
Venice probably deserves a one-time tourist entry fee, called the “Stay Afloat Fee” or something. It deserves to be kept around, not just used and forgotten. I want to show people this place, each quiet lane after quiet lane, but that doesn’t work if it’s not there. This flood is an example of the difference between appreciation and respect.
It’s unfair to travel.
Planes, boats, buses and trains, all the trampled streets and trampled street vendors who sell things made in sweatshops when everyone else is sleeping, they keep the city running until it’s run into nothing.
When I was in Rome, I went to get Indian food in a poor part of the city. It had amazing street art, food that wasn’t pizza, and between there and the Colosseum was an entire world of difference. We walked in the night air with full bellies, down an ally toward the car, and passed by an open door that cast yellow onto the sidewalk.
Inside, I saw the crowns of heads, hands twiddling away at sewing machines, a hangar stuffed with cheap suits pressed up to the wall. The people weren’t Italian, and they didn’t look to say hello. One just stared at me, with wide eyes too tired, desperate and thankful to express how tired he was, until the door frame cut him off as I continued down the street.
I knew who bought those suits, as I’d seen them and ones like them sold down by the Trevi Fountain, right past that round fruit stand. It was my second week in Italy, and I felt ashamed at how unfair it was to be there.
We go to these destinations because they’re amazing and worth loving, but in doing so we pose a threat to their future. In general, sustainability is a pressing topic, and because we love these places, because we love the world, we shouldn’t let them be forgotten.
How selfless do we have to be to keep the world afloat?
