G7 tourism, flash mob Let’s save Florence ‘you are not welcome’

(ANSA) – FLORENCE, NOV 13 – Helmets, umbrellas, two banners ‘Florence is dying of wild tourism and speculation’ and ‘Speculation in progress’ and smoke bombs. A flash mob in Piazza Santa Maria Soprarno, a stone’s throw from Ponte Vecchio, with around twenty activists from Save Florence to live in, to welcome the G7 on tourism which will open in the city today. “It’s our unwelcome to the seven big ones on the planet,” say the organizers. “In Florence we know well the effects of tourism as a driver of economic growth. Overtourism has led to an uncontrolled expansion of short-term rentals, a surge in real estate and rental costs, the sell-off of public assets”, the words of Chiara Giunti , member of the committee. The ‘Speculation in progress’ banner will accompany other initiatives by Save Florence to live in after the weekend blitz with stickers on the keyboxes of apartments intended for tourist rentals. “Patches that have worked miracles, what had been stagnant for years has had a huge acceleration”, adds Massimo Torelli, in reference to the resolution of the Palazzo Vecchio council which yesterday banned keyboxes on the facades of buildings in the UNESCO area. “However, they have not understood that there is not a UNESCO area and the rest of Florence. These constraints must apply to the whole city. The paradigm must change, Florence cannot handle this flow of tourists and the real estate speculation that the former Mayor Nardella has attracted to this city in the last decade”. “Every city – concludes Torelli, replying to Minister Santanchè who defined overtourism as a ‘non-problem’ – must be able to handle a number of tourists that is tolerable for the residents and those who work there”. (HANDLE).