Florence is getting serious about mass tourism. Like other major destinations inside and outside Italy, the capital of Tuscany has decided to take action to mitigate the effects of the avalanche of visitors on its streets. Nothing extraordinary so far. What was interesting was how he did it. Mayor Sara Funaro recently presented a 10-point shock plan with guidelines and some very practical measures.

For example, the municipality will no longer allow guides to use loudspeakers to address tour groups. Hosts on platforms like Airbnb also do not place metal boxes for keys on doors, portals or facades of buildings; entrance from tenants.

10 point plan. On the doorstep of the G7 tourism ministers’ summit, held last week in Florence proper, the mayor of the Tuscan capital presented a ten commandments aimed at making the city’s avalanche of visitors more “sustainable”. And the word “sustainable” is important: It’s repeated nearly a dozen times in the statement the City Council released to announce its 10-point plan.

“The message we want to convey is that we care about our city. We care that Florence is attractive, but above all livable for its residents,” says Mayor Sara Funaro. “With these measures, we protect Florence. Our primary goal is to ensure that our city can maintain its roots, nature and identity.”

Goodbye key boxes. Of the 10 guidelines, there are three that are particularly striking and extremely practical, and which the City Council aims to make the effects of its plan immediately visible. The first focuses on small boxes containing key codes. For some time now it has become common to see them fixed on facades, gates, fences, portals… near points where apartments are rented to tourists through websites such as Airbnb. It is very simple to use and largely explains its success: After booking the apartment, the tenant receives a code with which he can open the box and take out the key to the apartment.

A useful tool… and controversial. For homeowners, safe deposit boxes are a quick, simple and, best of all, inexpensive way to simplify things. entrancebut from now on they will have to think of another way to do it. At least on the exteriors of buildings located in the UNESCO-protected historical area of ​​the city. The measure has an aesthetic aim and seeks to prevent the proliferation of metal boxes, but it also goes further by forcing homeowners to reveal themselves during move-ins. entrance and limiting the role of companies that manage dozens of apartments in Florence on behalf of their owners.

They have become so visible in the historical center that, in a way, the key boxes have become a symbol of overtourism in Florence. CNN explains that in some cases they have become targets of acts of vandalism, with neighbors even covering them with red adhesive tape to decry the city’s overcrowding. “If they look like a Band-Aid, that’s intentional: we’re trying to heal Florence,” says one supporter of the initiative. Times.

And goodbye, speakers for guides and cars. This is not the only precaution they have in mind in Florence. Another interesting event that shows how tired the City Council is from mass tourism is that it will ban guides from using loudspeakers when addressing their groups. “This is a phenomenon that disturbs the residents of our city,” he admits. A similar fate will befall the means of transport that visitors use to get around the city, which the local government calls “unconventional vehicles”. He mentions “golf carts” as an example. In this case, the Florentine Government is not talking about a ban, but about the imposition of certain restrictions.

Are there any further precautions? Yes, the City Council is also talking about introducing “limits” on tourist rentals, awareness campaigns, cooperation with platforms and greater control of the flow of tourists. This is not the first time that Tuscany’s capital has moved in this direction. Just a year ago, the city took even tougher action by banning new short-term rentals from websites like Airbnb in its historic center.

As in other major European destinations, even beyond Italy, the balance between holiday and residential use of homes is not always easy: In September, a Florentine judge backed Airbnb, finding that an owner’s right to rent out his or her apartment is: tourists trump other neighbors’ concerns. The sentence is limited to a specific case that unfolded in a building on Via Cavour, but it comes at a crucial time.

Is the problem that serious? The data is meaningful. The City Council estimates there were more than 7.8 million visitors between January and September. Approximately 366,500 people live in the city. Although just under 6,000 flats were advertised on Airbnb in the town in 2016, supply was already close to 14,400 when the moratorium was adopted last year. A significant increase that coincided with a 42% increase in the average cost of residential rentals. A study by HousingAnywehere a few months ago concluded that Florence is one of the European cities where renting is becoming more expensive compared to 2023, with an annual increase of 6.3%. Of course, this figure is lower than other cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.

“The historic center is no longer capable of supporting such a large presence of activities and vehicles for tourist use only, concentrated in an area of ​​just five square kilometres, without weakening its heritage value and endangering its liveability,” the City Council warns. The last nuance is important because Florence estimates that 95% of tourism to the city is concentrated in its central and historic almond, which is just 5 km2.

Beyond Florence. Florence may be the latest example, but it’s certainly not the only city taking measures to mitigate the effects of tourist crowds.

They even launched a campaign in Amsterdam asking visitors seeking sex and drugs to “stay away”; In Seoul, they quarantined their historical neighborhoods; In Japan they already charge to use the busiest Fuji route and even have an “anti-selfie” display, in Bali they impose a moratorium on new hotels, and in New Zealand or Italy they have decided to raise taxes to offset the cost and impact of tourism. Spain has also not been immune to moratoriums and neighborhood protests due to sector saturation.

Pictures | Maxime Steckle (Unsplash) and Jonathan Körner (Unsplash)

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