18 May 2019
VENEZIA. For the first time the number of residents in the historic city has fallen below the 53,000 mark, while the total count, including the residents of the islands, is close to 80 thousand, recorded at 80,418. So say, though with some divergence, the official count reported on the City’s portal, where the estimate is 52,744 residents, and the monitor at the Morelli pharmacy in campo San Bartolimo, which instead indicates 52,981. This discrepancy of over 200 units does not change the substance of the report, which confirms that residency in the città d’acqua, excluding the islands, has continued its downward trend. The population numbers keep falling in a Venice which is, moreover, according to the official statistics from Ca’ Farsetti, consistently growing older. Even adding in the islands the situation remains difficult, with the threshold of 80,000 residents ready to be broken next, obviously downward.
These new totals confirm how the protection of residential life remains a very urgent matter, inevitably at the center of administrative policies and the next electoral campaign. It’s a subject which has recently received particular attention from Gruppo 25 Aprile, led by Marco Gasparinetti. This year the group is repeating the photography contest open to students attending scuole superiori. 12 photographs will be chosen to appear in the 2020 edition of the group’s calendar, the earnings from which will be awarded to benefit families in difficulty. “The title of the contest is “Living in Venice”, and we are looking for photos that are not only beautiful aesthetically, but that evoke moments of daily life, of the working world, of social interactions and free time”. The entries can be submitted until 15 July; they will then be evaluated by a jury of four people, presided over by photographer Mark Smith. The contest will be launched this Sunday, when at 17:00 in campo della Bragora the 5,000 Euro collected from the sale of this year’s calendar will be distributed to two families of residents who have already been evicted but who want to continue living in Venice. This event is part of the Festa in Campo, which begins at 16:00 with free guided tours of the Roman church and the scoletta, followed by a presentation of the book “SOS Laguna” by Luigi D’Alpaos (Mare di Carta ed.). The Festa will also feature tasting of lagoon area wines with the “Laguna in bicchiere” association, refreshments, a marketplace and, finally, a concert by Extravagana, which curiously enough will be at 19:00 on 19 May of 2019.
[Ed. Note: recall that in February of 2017 Gruppo 25 Aprile’s flashmob PandAmonio was held at 17:00 on Feb. 17 of 2017. So two years later, maybe 19,19,19 is not so curious…]
Source: Il Gazzettino
Campaign For A Living Venice 