It’s hard to confuse the beaches of Hawaii with the canals of Venice. And yet this Wednesday the mayor of Venice (Italy) castigated the “two idiots” filmed surfing the Grand Canal electrically and promised dinner to anyone who identifies them.
“Here are two arrogant idiots laughing at our city,” wrote Luigi Brugnaro, posting a video showing two young men on motorized boards on the Italian city’s most famous waterway. “I offer dinner to those who identify her!” “.
Ecco due imbecilli prepotenti che si fanno beffa della Città… chiedo a tutti di aiutarci a individual per punirli anche se le nostre armi sono davvero spuntate… servono urgemente più poteri ai Sindaci in thema di sicurezza pubblica!
A chi li individual offro una cena! pic.twitter.com/DV2ONO3hUs—Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) August 17, 2022
Other videos showing how they make several crossings and slalom rides between the gondolas have been published on social networks and in particular on the account “Venezia non è Disneyland” (Venice is not Disneyland), aimed at making tourists respect the Italian to make the city aware.
Later, after his Twitter call went viral, Luigi Brugnaro announced that the duo had been found and their boards confiscated. He added that they would be treated “as they deserve.”
However, he seemed to concede there was little he could do to stop the two surfers, saying: “Mayors urgently need to be given more powers over public safety issues. »
After turning into a ghost town during the Covid-19 lockdown period, Venice is once again attracting tourists from all over the world and its canals are bustling with intense boat traffic as before the pandemic.
Mass tourism and inappropriate behavior are regularly highlighted by heritage advocates and city dwellers. Last week Luigi Brugnaro demanded 10 days in jail for a Scottish tourist caught swimming in a canal, the Guardian recalls. In 2020, a French tourist was fined €150 for paddling down the Grand Canal on a stand-up paddle board.