Venice Decides To Ban Wheeled Luggage – Wants You To Haul Yours In Bags With Air-Filled Tires

Next time you are planning a trip to Venice, make sure you do not have those bags on wheelies, as the local government has decided to permanently ban any luggage with hard wheels.

Venice’s city council is seriously considering a ban on rolling suitcases in response to residents’ complaints about the loud noise tourists make walking about the streets. The incessant sound of wheeled suitcases is apparently causing Venetians “serious discomfort.” However, from a purely technical aspect, wheeled luggage could also be “progressively deteriorating” centuries-old paving slabs, marble steps, and foot bridges, said the city council.

Venetians say they are already facing problems with giant cruise ships, uncouth tourists, feral pigeons, and flooding caused by high tides. But in their fight against the wheeled luggage, shopkeepers, cafe owners, and residents have decided to unite. These pieces of luggage, when pulled on cobbled pathways, make an awful lot of racket, especially when the tourists trudge theirs along narrow alleyways.

However, these wheeled suitcases are quite necessary in a city without roads. Tourists have to reach their hotels either by water bus or by walking and these wheeled suitcases is the only way to tow heavy luggage with minimal effort.

Understanding the plight of the tourists, Venice officials haven’t banned wheeled luggage in its entirety. Venice council wants to introduce a ban on luggage equipped with hard rubber wheels only, reported Jaunted. In other words, it is forcing the city’s 27 million annual visitors to instead use suitcases that roll on air-filled, softer wheels. It is felt that these air-filled wheels won’t make as much noise the hard-plastic wheels make.

Interestingly, Venice officials aren’t just worried about tourists; they are equally bothered about “growing noise pollution” caused by local businesses wheeling goods around on trolleys as well. The ban is expected to come into effect in May of next year, and thereafter, any unaware tourists found walking the streets with a hard-wheeled luggage will have to shell out a hefty fine of up to 500 Euros ($620).

The wheeled suitcase ban seems a little too much for Venice, considering the other larger issues that the city is facing, reported the Telegraph. Amidst problems like rising waters caused by global warming, an exodus of locals because of high rents and property prices, and a daily invasion of approximately 60,000 tourists, the issue of noisy luggage might be a little trivial. However, the city council is convinced that these pieces of wheeled luggage have to go.

While the ban might be a little difficult to implement, bag-making companies could end up being the real winners, as tourists will now have to purchase special suitcases that are compliant with the laws of Venice.

[Image Credit | Sean Gallop/Getty Images]