I can think of few things worse than being a tourist. So I must admit that I did manage a smirk, as I swelter my way through yet another Italian summer, at reports that the mayor of Portofino has apparently banned air-conditioning in an attempt to preserve the beauty of his town.
Yes, of course, I enjoyed the vision this conjured up of the bling and buy rich who these days infest the bijou little seaside town sweating like pigs – or the poor.
Portofino, then, is a perfect example in microcosm of the carcinogenic effect of tourism on the soul and spirit of a place
‘Portofino blows whistle on air conditioning as mayor leads crackdown’ announced the headline in the Times above an article which began:
‘Nestled in the Italian Riviera, the picturesque Portofino has long been a playground for the world’s rich and famous. Its VIP guests are finding that money cannot buy you everything, though, as a crackdown on air conditioning is threatening to disrupt their comfort amid temperature peaks of 40C.’
But as I would soon find out when I made my own inquiries I had smirked too soon. Yes, the mayor of Portofino, Matteo Viacava, had ordered a crackdown: but on illegal air-conditioning units and not on air-conditioning tout court.
Nothing unusual about that then.
In Portofino, as in every town or city centre in Italy of historical importance, it is illegal to attach air-con units to the exterior of any building. That includes rear walls, roofs and balconies. It makes no difference if the units are concealed inside cabins – or camouflaged with paint as often happens.
Since January, the police have ordered 22 owners of apartments in the pretty pastel coloured houses huddled about the tiny port to take down external air-con units and issued fines for unknown sums of money which for this offence range from €1000 to €50,000.
They have been helped by the use of drones, it is said, and anonymous tip-offs. complete with photos, from neighbours irritated above all by the whirring noise the illegal air-con units make.
Meanwhile, air-con units inside buildings, which is where nearly all of them are, remain perfectly legit. So the rich tourists in Portofino are safe and sweatless.
Quite why anyone, rich or poor, should want to visit Portofino is beyond me. But they do, in their droves.
There’s nothing to do except look at the little port and the lovely hills or the luxury goods at Dior, Gucci and Louis Vuitton who are all present – or else look for famous faces in the crowd.
The resident population of the tiny little town is just 369 – of whom just 32 are under 20. Yet each day in high summer up to 12,000 day-trippers arrive mainly on huge cruise ships which drop anchor just offshore.
Their ‘principle objective’ – according to Edoardo Meoli of the regional daily Il Secolo XIX – is to take selfies in the little piazza known as La Piazzetta next to the port and the obscenely priced bars and restaurants where the seafood is nearly all farmed or flown in from far away, as the Mediterranean has been fished to death,
But they can’t even take selfies in peace because last year Signor Viacava, a member of the late Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia party, banned pedestrians from stopping between 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. in certain key areas of the town such as La Piazzetta. They must keep walking, or else risk a fine of up to €275.
In Portofino, it is also an offence to walk around barefoot, bare-chested, or in a swimming costume, sit on the ground or fall asleep on a bench. In addition, it is an offence to carry alcohol in public between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., even in a shopping bag. Coming by car is a waste of time as the few parking spaces available are on the edge of town and cost €10 an hour.
The average annual wage of the few people who still live in Portofino is €90,610, according to latest government figures which is the highest of any town in Italy.
But can they honestly be proud that they have become rich by transforming Portofino from a town of fishermen where Richard Burton once proposed to Elizabeth Taylor into an air-conditioned nightmare where people like Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin get married?
Meanwhile the mayor no less, Signor Viacava, who is the co-owner of a newsagent and souvenir shop in Portofino, came under criminal investigation for the sale of fake designer bags by Hermes, Fendi and Chanel. Police seized 91 bags belonging to his shop in a raid on a warehouse last year which according to experts are fake. (In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Viacava claimed that since he had become mayor his ex-girlfriend managed the shop and he had been targeted for political reasons because he was about to name a street in Portofino after the late Berlusconi who once had a huge villa now owned by Dolce & Gabbana).
As Francesco Gastaldi, professor of urban studies at Iuav University in Venice, who sustains that Portofino is ‘dying from too much wealth’ told the press the other day: ‘Normal life is impossible here, above all for families with small children, thanks to the excessive purchasing power of tourists.’
Portofino, then, is a perfect example in microcosm of the carcinogenic effect of tourism on the soul and spirit of a place. Tourism has destroyed – to use the fashionable word – its authenticity.
Across the Mediterranean, this summer has seen a crescendo of hostility and protest from local people, above all in Spain, directed at the destructive collateral damage caused by tourism to their culture and way of life.
They are most angry specifically that they can no longer even afford to live in their own towns, cities and villages. Yes, tourism creates jobs for them but what’s the point of those jobs if tourism – even before you consider all the other damage it does – deprives them of somewhere to live? The Airbnb short let revolution of the past 15 years has dealt the coup de grace to affordable housing in tourist resorts.
That so many people who depend on tourism for a living should despise tourism so much does not mean that they are stupid. It means they are right.
It can surely only be a question of time before even the tourists themselves start to agree.
PS. In our house near Lido di Dante on the Adriatic there is no air con. All we have are a few portable fans and the windows open, insect screens down. But even when it is 100-plus in the shade we are fine.
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