SCAMMERS
Let me be straight with you.
Venice is not a particularly dangerous city.
But don’t let the postcard fool you — walking alone at night through empty calli, especially in the less central areas, is not without its risks.
It’s quiet, it’s dark, it’s a labyrinth, and if something goes wrong, help is not around the corner.
Use common sense. Walk with someone. Know where you’re going. Venice it’s still a city living in 2026.
And during the day? Stay aware. Pickpockets exist.
They’re not everywhere. They’re usually not aggressive.
But they’re there — on the vaporetto, in crowded campi, near the tourist chokepoints.
Don’t keep your wallet in your back pocket, don’t leave your bag open and unattended, don’t be the distracted.
The “Welcome” just outside San Marco SquareRight around Piazza San Marco, Rialto, and the main boat stops, there’s a whole ecosystem grown around one thing:
extracting money from confused tourists as efficiently as possible.
You’ll recognize it when you see it: overly friendly staff waving you in, menus with no clear prices, and “service charge” that appears out of nowhere.
Some of those restaurants are outright tourist traps:
you’ll pay for the view, the location, the name, and you’ll get food that’s edible but forgettable — and expensive.
Nothing illegal. Just painful.
If you’re in one of those places, you’re paying for the symbol of Venice, not for the quality of the food.
You can eat there if you want to, but do it consciously.
This is not a secret.
You’re not being “tricked” — you’re just feeding a machine that has been running for centuries.
The “free” braceletThen there are the guys on the street corners with bracelets, “free souvenirs,” or “good luck charms” in their hands.
They’ll put something on your wrist, on your hand, or around your neck.
It’s not free.
At that moment they start insisting on money, sometimes politely, sometimes less so.
If you say no, you’re rude.
If you say yes, you’re paying for nothing.
The safest move is not to engage in the first place.
If you do, be ready to walk away and say no without feeling guilty.
You’re not a bad person for protecting your wallet.
You’re a tourist in a city that has learned, very well, how to exploit tourists.
Water taxis and gondolas — the price before the rideAgain, Venice is a city of water.
That means water taxis and gondolas are part of the choreography of the place.
And they’re also one of the easiest ways to get overcharged.
For water taxis, check two things:
- if they show the tariff, or at least explain the price before you get on;
- if they’re official, licensed, and not just a random guy with a boat.
If they don’t show you a price and you accept anyway, you’ve basically signed a blank check.
You might be fine, you might not.
Guess which outcome is more common.
For gondolas, the rule is even simpler:
The price is not fixed by law, but it is fixed by common sense.
You can always ask “quanto viene?” before you sit down.
If the answer is vague, or if it suddenly changes once you’re on the boat, walk away.
There are plenty of gondolas in the city.
You don’t have to be the one who gets pressured.
You’re not being rude. You’re being smart.
Your nonna’s souvenir — and where it’s really made
You want to bring something home. A Murano glass figurine, a carnival mask, a painted fan.
I understand. It’s a nice gesture.
Here’s the thing, though — and I’m going to say it clearly, because nobody else will:
Most of what’s sold in the tourist shops is made in China.
Not inspired by Venetian craft. Not “in the style of.” Just manufactured somewhere else, shipped over, and placed on a shelf next to a picture of the Rialto.
Now — is the original worth buying?
Yes, if it’s actually original.
Authentic Murano glass, real hand‑painted masks, proper Venetian lace from Burano — these things exist, they’re beautiful, and they cost accordingly.
Look for the “Vetro Artistico® Murano” trademark on glass, ask where things are made, and buy from someone who can actually tell you the story of the object.
Original or not — that’s your call.
Just make it knowing what you’re buying.
If you’re aware of the game, you’re not losing.
You’re just choosing your side of it.
The three prices that don’t exist on paperHere’s something nobody puts in a guidebook.
In Venice — not everywhere, not always, but often enough to matter — there are effectively three prices for the same thing.
One for residents. One for Italians. One for tourists.
None of them written down. None of them negotiable.
Just quietly applied based on how you look, how you speak, and how lost you seem.
You can’t always beat this system.
But you can avoid the worst of it by doing one simple thing before you sit down anywhere:
Get a rough sense of what things cost.
A spritz in Venice runs anywhere from €2.50 standing at a bar in a local bacaro to €8–10 at a decent spot in Dorsoduro.
If you’re not sitting in Piazza San Marco — which operates on its own parallel economy and everyone knows it — and someone brings you a spritz and asks for €25, you are being robbed.
Politely, with a smile, in a beautiful setting.
But robbed.
A quick Google search before you order — average price for a spritz in Venice, average price for a cicchetto, average price for a gondola ride — takes two minutes and can save you from a lot of quiet, expensive disappointment.
Use it.