Venice’s Oriental pull endures, with 4 million Chinese visitors expected during Expo
Interview with Giuliano Segre
For centuries, Venice has been a living embodiment of the links between Italy and the East. This bond is set to strengthen even further in a year that – with Italy also hosting the World Expo at the same time – promises to bring four million Chinese visitors to the Biennale. What’s more, the international press continues to report avidly on events taking place in the city of canals, frequently including Venice in suggested itineraries for their readers. The challenge, however – for Venice as well as Italy’s other art-rich cities – remains that of striking a balance between attracting visitors from the East and the sustainability of flows of tourists to these areas. On the sidelines of the national roundtable event “Regulating banking foundations in Italy: legislation or negotiation?”, the Aspen Italia website team caught up with the president of the Fondazione di Venezia, Giuliano Segre, to discuss this issue.
What role do Italian banking foundations play in supporting arts and culture?
Arts and culture in Italy are privileged recipients of the distributive efforts of the banking foundations. It is obvious that – especially in the case of Italy – there is a very strong link between tourism and culture, meaning that the foundations can therefore also play a key role in the development of tourism. This is a dynamic we see play out intensely in Venice: the nearly 30 million visitors who flock to the city each year do so to partake of a cultural heritage that can only be truly experienced by actually coming face-to-face with it. In a nutshell, our heritage is not only an asset to be preserved, but an artistic and cultural treasure that needs to be experienced firsthand.
As support for local area development also remains key, how do culture and local development feed into each other in the case of Venice?
We at the Fondazione di Venezia have several cultural initiatives with a focus on local communities, education and training, and particularly youth. Culture offers young people great opportunities to build growth trajectories from a training and education perspective. If we look at Venice, we see a city visited by millions of people intent on exploring a cultural heritage written in stone. But we can make sure that this cultural heritage – once it is experienced and explained – continues to live on in people’s minds. In this way, culture becomes an exceptional springboard for the professional and personal growth of young people as well.
What strategy can help ensure the sustainability of tourist flows to Venice?
In addressing this question, there’s a factor we first need to consider: the world population is approaching seven billion, and as soon as major segments of the population in emerging countries have the financial resources to travel, Venice – thanks to its renown – will become a potential destination. This means that for the future we need to take into account a continuous rise in the number of visitors, with the risk being that the personal enjoyment derived from a visit to Venice may be marred by overcrowding. This represents an organizational challenge that is not easy to address, since it still remains bound up with institutional decisions, such as those made by municipal government, whose task is to meet the needs of local inhabitants. In my opinion, in order to find a solution to such issues, a more strategic approach is needed, which involves not just Venice but also other Italian art-rich cities.
In what way do visitors from Asia embody the special bond that links Venice to the East?
Among the various factors that bring visitors from around the world to Venice is the pivotal story of Marco Polo. While in Venice this is considered just another of the city’s many stories, for Chinese visitors it is key to explaining a relationship between two cultures that has persisted for centuries. In China, Marco Polo is one of the most well-known historical figures, and the historical ties that he personifies draw many people to Venice. It’s headline news at the moment that, in the lead-up to the Biennale, this year coinciding with Expo, four million Chinese visitors are expected. This is another reason why it would be worthwhile reexamining the depth of cultural relations between Venice and China, and finding new perspectives and new stories that will ensure these ties continue to be strengthened.
