Venice is one of the most famous cities in the whole world, not just Italy or Europe. It’s a city built on 126 islets, attracting 20-30 millions of tourists every year. If you’re planning on joining the crowds, then you may want to know just how safe you are going to be in Venice. What should you look out for?
Safety in Venice
Venice is, generally, a decently safe place. The crime rates are low and people are generally friendly. Like literally any other city visited by millions of tourists, though, Venice is a place where you’ll have to be mindful of the common tourist occurrences. The first thing is to look out for pickpockets. It’s not incredibly common but instances do occur regularly enough for you to be mindful of large crowds. Just use common sense, don’t be careless and you’ll be just fine.
If you want to be on the safe side, you’ll invariably find less crowds and, as such, fewer pickpockets early in the morning. Of course, you can also just visit outside of the peak season. It’ll also help with the smell.
You may also want to avoid people offering you services out of the blue, like proposals that they’ll carry your stuff or random petitions being flung in front of your face. You can just ignore many of the more notorious scammers. The other cult classic is higher prices for tourists in restaurants and cafes and scammy vendors on the streets. These don’t occur too often, but do be mindful that they are theoretically there.
Natural dangers in Venice
Finally, for the more realistic dangers. Firstly, Venice gets very hot in summer, with temperatures going above 30 degrees Celsius on a regular basis. Use sunscreen, wear a hat, carry plenty of water and don’t be a silly goose.
During the colder months, usually from October till January/February, Venice gets routinely flooded. Like, literally, the city sinks a bit. You can see an example of it here. This is nothing new in Venice, as there are records suggesting that floods have been present since, at least, the 8th century. Still, it’s something to keep in mind if you’re visiting during November, for instance. It’s also an issue likely getting worse as a result of climate change, so who knows how extreme it can become in the coming years. If you are visiting in the colder months, do listen carefully to announcements about such possible dangers.
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