holiday in Italy
Beware of pickpockets: How an Italian woman protects tourists
31.07.2023, 21:54 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Holidaymakers are often distracted in the dense crowds. This makes their backpacks easy prey for pickpockets.
Photo: IMAGO/Independent Photo Agency Int.
Monica Poli has been patrolling Venice for years. She wants to protect vacationers in Italy from thieves – and she became famous for her videos.
Berlin. The cell phone video shows tourists with backpacks and shoulder bags, who stroll relaxed through an alley in Venice. Suddenly, several women crowd the vacationers from behind. The camerawoman calls out: “Attenzione borseggiatrici, attenzione pickpocket!” (English: “Beware of pickpockets!”)
There are many such videos on cittadininondistratti’s TikTok and Instagram channels. Sometimes they show the supposed ones pickpockets and thieves on the platform, sometimes on a bridge in the middle of Venice. As soon as the alleged thieves approach the tourists, the camerawoman begins to scream. Apparently caught in the act, people run away or try to hide their faces.
Italy: Monica Poli wants to protect vacationers from pickpockets
Monica Poli is behind the clips. The 57-year-old lives in Venice and has gained notoriety on social media for patrolling the streets of her hometown – alerting tourists to potential pickpockets. With her videos, the Italian has now become a small one celebrity – many of her videos have been viewed over a million times on TikTok.
Poli belongs to the group Citizens Not Distracted (citizens who refuse to be distracted). Poli and her comrades roam the city yelling at people they think are thieves. Again and again, Monica Poli and her colleagues report these suspected pickpockets to the police. Back in 2019, The Economist reported that the group was responsible for a third of all pickpocket arrests in Venice.
Interview with Poli: “Sixth sense” for pickpockets
In the social networks, users speculate about how Poli can identify the pickpockets, because they are not always caught in the act. In an interview with the New York Times, she explained that she has a “sixth sense” for pickpockets. You recognize them by the way you look at them passers-by and their bags. In the interview, Poli also reported that she roamed the streets almost every day. Since she works early in the morning, she often invests several hours in the afternoon to “protect tourists”.
Although the group Cittadini Non Distratti has been active in Italy for decades, it is only recently that members have shared the videos on TikTok and Instagram. The accounts are already being followed by hundreds of thousands, thanks in no small part to Monica Poli’s unmistakably loud voice. Her penetrating cries of warning, “Attenzione borseggiatrici! Attenzione pickpocket!” are closed Memes become in Italy.
Apparently that doesn’t bother Poli. On the contrary. She told the New York Times that her new celebrity made her happy because she and her group wanted tourists who were about to Venice or Milan, be vigilant and watch out for pickpockets. “I protect all tourists,” says Poli. “Tourism is very important for Italy.”
2023-07-31 20:34:22
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