Sign this petition so that Venice does not become the world’s biggest museum, with fixed opening and closing times, where people no longer have the right and freedom to live. This trend does not only affect Venice, but all Italian historic centres.

The court of Venice has issued a decree obliging Vino Vero, a natural wine bar with over 1,000 labels, to close early at 11pm. The reason for this is down to a complaint from the tenants on the floor above, according to whom the ‘noise emissions’ coming from the wine bar are intolerable, to the point of compromising their psycho-physical balance.

The judge’s order reads: ‘the anthropic activities connected with the “Vino Vero” restaurant exceed the tolerable threshold of noise emissions (…) even when there are only two people sat at a table and when there are four people on the premises, the noise emissions exceed the threshold of normal tolerability’.

We are faced with a huge paradox: if just two people sitting at a table having a glass of wine is a problem, then the activity of any venue or restaurant operating after 11pm in Venice becomes illegal.

The message which comes across is that Venice after 11pm should close and its inhabitants should stay at home under a curfew, because then even the normal passage of boats and people becomes a disturbance.

A city that closes at 11 p.m. is no longer a city.