Owner of Venice's Harry's Bar sues city for speeding boats

The owner of a famous bar in Venice is suing the city council due to waves drenching the feet of customers.

Once frequented by the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Charlie Chaplin - and even George Clooney more recently - Harry's Bar is one of the most famous bars in the Italian canal city.

First opened in 1931, despite it being renown as the home of the Bellini and Carpaccio, its second branch which overlooks the Giudecca canal is gaining attraction for all the wrong reason. 

The bar is currently being inundated by waves from speeding boats that regularly go over the 11 km/h (6.8 mph) limit.

Now, Arrigo Cipriani, 92, who is the son of the late Giuseppe Cipriani who founded Harry's in 1931, is taking action by suing Venice.

'Delinquents who ferry tourists around too fast on their boats are to blame for this, which is why I am suing the city of Venice until they stop them,' he told The Times.

Cipriani explained that the waves are nearly flipping over rowing boats and are rattling jetties.

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He said they are also coming up on to the pavement where his customers are enjoying a cocktail.

After putting up a wooden barrier at the water's edge to stop the waves, the city council said for him to take it down which prompted his decision to sue the city.

He said: 'These boats are doing 20 km/h when they should be doing 3 to 4 km/h. The mayor doesn't get it because he grew up on the mainland, not here on the canals.'

The bar owner has been backed by the Venice pressure group Gruppo Insieme, which claims waves from boats are eroding the city's ancient marble quays. 

This comes after Venice vowed to extend its controversial tourist tax after raking in a staggering £1.7million - while critics claim the scheme failed to deter day-trippers.

Venice first announced the plans in 2023, when local authorities announced it would charge tourists five euros, or £4.35, per person to visit the fragile lagoon city during peak times this year.

But as the programme comes to an end, opponents dubbed the experiment a failure.

Several dozen activists gathered outside the Santa Lucia railway station overlooking a crowded canal on Saturday to protest over the levy which they say did little to dissuade visitors from arriving on peak days, as envisioned.

'The ticket is a failure, as demonstrated by city data,' said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition city council member.

Over the first 11 days of the trial period, an average of 75,000 visitors were recorded in the city.

Mr Martini said that is 10,000 more each day than on three indicative holidays in 2023, citing figures provided by the city based on mobile phone data that tracks arrivals in the city.

Venice imposed the long-discussed day-tripper tax across 29 days this year, mostly weekends and holidays, between April 25 and mid-July.