Residents of Venice, Italy will soon have the power to decide the future of short-term rentals in their city. The grassroots movement "Tutta la città insieme" (All the City Together) is mobilizing to collect 5,000 authenticated signatures that would trigger a municipal referendum on whether the city should impose strict limits on tourist accommodations—a move that could fundamentally reshape how Venice balances tourism revenue against the survival of its residential neighborhoods.
Why This Matters
• Housing scarcity: Venice has roughly 8,200 tourist rental listings against a sustainable threshold of only 2,500, according to June 2026 estimates. For every 100 residents in the historic center, there are more than three active short-term rental ads online.
• Economic pressure: A rental property generating tourist income for just 120 days per year still earns roughly €22,781 more annually than a standard long-term residential lease—making it nearly impossible for locals to compete on the rental market.
• Regulatory vacuum: Despite national legislation passed in 2022 granting Venice unique authority to cap short-term rentals, the Venice City Council has yet to approve binding enforcement rules, leaving the sector essentially self-regulated.
A Citizens' Petition Against the Tourist Takeover
Giovanni Andrea Martini, former mayoral candidate and president of the organizing association, announced that a 100-member promoter committee will formally launch the referendum campaign during the Venice Film Festival later this month. Under municipal law, a committee of 100 citizens is the first required step to advance a popular referendum; once the question is deemed admissible, organizers will begin the signature drive.
"This is not about pitting residents against visitors, nor about denying property owners their legitimate rights," Martini stated. "The question is: how many homes do we want to remain homes? When a growing share of the housing stock is pulled out of stable residence and channeled into the tourist market, it ceases to be a private matter—it becomes a question of the city's future."
Martini contends that for too long, the debate has been dominated by industry operators, booking platforms, and landlords. The referendum, he argues, will recenter the voices of those who live, study, and work in Venice.
The Housing Crisis in Numbers
The scale of the problem is stark. According to December 2025 data from Airbnb and similar platforms, Venice lists approximately 7,559 active short-term rental properties. More recent analysis in June 2026 pushed that estimate above 8,200. The 2021 Italy census revealed that 34% of all housing units in the historic center and lagoon islands sit empty or are not occupied by permanent residents—including vacation homes and tourist rentals. Of those, 7,421 units (16% of total housing stock) are devoted exclusively to tourism, representing 43% of all vacant or non-resident-occupied dwellings.
On the ground, the impact is immediate. An August 2026 survey of rental listings in insular Venice found 301 total ads, but only 110 pertained to long-term leases. Filtering out high-end properties over €3,000 per month and transitory contracts left fewer than 25 units available under standard residential agreements—roughly one-tenth of the initial pool.
Average nightly rates for short-term rentals hover around €169 in low season and spike to €215 in August. Occupancy rates are robust: properties book an average of 232 to 259 nights per year (64–71% occupancy), positioning Venice in the top 5% for revenue, top 9% for daily rates, and top 18% for occupancy nationwide. The residential population of the historic center has meanwhile fallen below 50,000—a figure that experts warn will soon be exceeded by the total bed capacity of tourist accommodations.
What This Means for Residents and Landlords
If the referendum succeeds and voters approve tighter restrictions, property owners could face binding caps on rental days, mandatory registration in a city-run ledger, or outright prohibitions in certain zones. The exact wording of the ballot question has not yet been disclosed, but the movement's rhetoric suggests measures that would prioritize long-term residential leases over tourist bookings.
For expats and international investors who own property in Venice, the stakes are considerable. Those managing three or more units are already classified under 2026 rules as entrepreneurial operators, requiring a VAT number and full accounting compliance. Owners of one or two units can still benefit from the simplified flat-rate tax (cedolare secca) of 21% on rental income from a primary residence, but any move toward stricter municipal quotas could compress revenue significantly.
Current national law mandates registration on the Veneto Region's ROSS1000 portal to obtain a Regional Identification Code (CIR), which coexists with the National Identification Code (CIN) introduced across Italy on January 1, 2025. The Italian Ministry of Tourism oversees the CIN system, while the Veneto Regional Government administers the CIR. Both codes must appear in all online listings.
The Venice City Council previously attempted an experimental regulation—in force through December 31, 2026—that offered a "premium" track allowing unlimited rental days for hosts who agreed to in-person guest reception, 24/7 phone availability, provision of waste-sorting bags, and distribution of the city's "Enjoy Respect Venice" guide. Those declining the premium tier faced a 120-day annual cap. However, technical obstacles, political divisions, and a cooling rental market led municipal authorities to shelve enforcement in late 2025, leaving the ordinance largely symbolic.
How Europe Is Tackling the Same Problem
Venice's struggle mirrors battles in cities across the continent. Starting May 20, 2026, the European Union Regulation 2024/1028 harmonizes short-term rental rules across all 27 member states, requiring every listing to carry a unique registration number and obligating platforms to transmit monthly booking data—number of nights, guests, property addresses—to national authorities. The regulation does not itself impose day limits but arms local governments with the transparency tools to design and enforce their own caps.
Paris, France restricts primary-residence rentals to 120 nights per year. Madrid, Spain bars new tourist licenses in residential buildings within the historic core, permitting them only in structures with independent street access in peripheral districts. Barcelona, Spain has frozen new licenses entirely in the city center. Amsterdam, Netherlands deploys a comprehensive package of caps, zoning rules, and steep fines to combat what officials call the "commercialization of housing."
Italy's own "Pellicani Amendment" of July 2022 granted Venice alone the statutory authority to limit short-term rentals—a power no other Italian municipality possesses—yet the city's center-right majority has repeatedly postponed debate on a proposed moratorium, citing concerns over legality and preferring to defer the issue to the next electoral term.
Landlords Welcome the Delay; Activists Demand Action
Property-manager associations and booking-platform representatives welcomed the March 2026 postponement of the moratorium proposal, saying they are open to dialogue on "genuinely useful interventions" but oppose blanket bans that would halt what they describe as an increasingly regulated and professional sector. Trade groups such as Bre-VE (Association of Tourist Rentals in Venice) and ABBAV (Veneto Extra-Hotel Representation Association) emphasize compliance, offering members full administrative support—from CIR and CIN registration to tax remittance and guest services.
On the opposite side, watchdog groups like OCIO Venezia (Independent Civic Observatory on Housing and Residency in Venice) argue that the absence of enforceable rules has enabled entire apartment blocks to convert into de facto hotels, accelerating depopulation and eroding the city's social fabric. They contend that municipal officials have applied existing norms "reductively," essentially green-lighting large-scale commercial conversion under the guise of individual property rights.
Currently, no ceiling, ban, or moratorium exists for short-term rentals in Venice. Owners must secure a regional CIR, obtain a national CIN, and file a SCIA notification with the municipality only if operating as a business (more than two units per tax year). The Italian Revenue Agency requires collection and remittance of tourist tax directly by landlords; Venice has declined offers from platforms to automate the process.
What Happens Next
The promoter committee will meet during the Venice Film Festival to unveil the referendum question and launch the signature campaign. Once 5,000 authenticated signatures are gathered, the Venice Municipal Elections Office must review the petition for legal admissibility. If approved, a citywide vote would follow, likely in 2027.
Should residents vote yes, the Venice City Council would be obligated to draft and enforce implementing regulations within a statutory deadline. Depending on the question's scope, those rules could include hard caps on rental nights, geographic exclusion zones in the historic center, mandatory premium-tier registration, or even phased phase-outs of non-primary-residence listings.
For property owners, the referendum represents regulatory risk; for tenants and aspiring residents, it offers a rare chance to reclaim housing supply. Either way, Venice is moving toward a public reckoning on whether tourism should dictate the city's residential future—or whether residents will reclaim the right to decide how many homes remain homes.
