Tourist rules, dos and don'ts in Venice

Most of the rules visitors run into come from Venice's police and urban security regulation (in Italian), approved in May 2019 and last changed in February 2024. The amounts are the reduced payment due within 60 days, plus costs, inside a legal range of €25 to €500.

For what to see once the rules are clear, read the guide to tourist attractions in Venice, and the Venice tourist office page lists where to ask in person.

Sources: the amounts come from the City of Venice fines table, Giunta 181/2019 (in Italian) and the city's page on forbidden behaviour, and the rules and areas from the regulation (in Italian). The €10,000 figure is from the UK travel advice for Italy.

Photo: "È VIETATO" by Son of Groucho (CC BY 2.0), cropped.

Venice charges visitors in two ways. Day visitors pay the access fee on set dates, which in 2027 are 72 days from 26 March to 15 August. Overnight guests pay the tourist tax per night, added to the bill by the accommodation.

A visitor found without a valid code on a fee day faces a fine of €25 to €150 plus the €10 fee. The 2027 amount, exemptions and way to pay are due to be announced before the end of 2026. The Venice tourist tax and access fee guide has the dates, rates and exemptions.

The regulation (in Italian) bans bathing, diving and swimming in all the canals of the city, the St Mark's Basin and the Giudecca Canal, and in any other water near inhabited areas. The fine is €350, and in protected areas officers can also order the offender to leave.

• Feet in the water. Sitting on the bank to soak feet costs €100.
• The sea. The city's page of good rules for visitors points swimmers to the beaches of the Lido and Pellestrina, a boat ride from the historic centre.
• After the beach. The swimwear rule also applies on boats and public transport, so visitors need to dress before the trip back.
• High water. On flooded streets, surfing, swimming or using a boat costs €350. People on foot must walk at a pace that does not splash others.

The regulation (in Italian) treats sitting and eating as separate offences, which is why the city's forbidden behaviour page gives a range of €100 to €200.

• Sitting. Sitting or lying on the ground, bridges, church porch steps, wellheads, shop windows, canal walls and high-water walkways is banned across the historic centre and costs €100. Officers must give a warning first.
• Monuments and benches. Sitting or lying on a monument, lying on a bench or standing on one also costs €100, across the whole municipality.
• Eating. Eating or drinking while sitting on the ground, or while standing where it blocks people, costs €200. The rule does not apply in the dedicated spaces of parks and gardens.
• Glass and ceramic. Consuming food or drink from glass, ceramic, terracotta or other reusable containers costs €200 away from the outdoor tables of bars and restaurants.
• The 48-hour order. In protected areas, which include the UNESCO site of Venice and its lagoon, officers can also order someone caught eating or sitting in these places to leave. The order ends after 48 hours (in Italian), and ignoring it brings a doubled fine.

Drinking in the street is not banned all day in Venice. The regulation (in Italian) bans drinking alcohol from 20:00 to 08:00 outside licensed premises and their outdoor tables. Where a bar has no outdoor tables, the ban starts 5 metres from its walls. The fine is €100.

• Carrying alcohol. From 20:00 to 08:00, carrying alcohol to drink in a public space, or without good reason, is also banned.
• Buying it. Takeaway alcohol and other drinks may not be sold in glasses or in glass bottles without a cap. Shops and artisan businesses may not sell any alcohol after 21:00.
• Bar crawls. Groups of two or more going from bar to bar, in a way that disturbs others, are banned from 20:00 Monday to Thursday and from 17:00 Friday to Sunday, until 08:00. The rule names stag and hen parties and graduations, and the fine is €350.
• Legal age. Shops and bars may not sell or serve alcohol to anyone under 18 (in Italian) and must ask for ID unless the buyer is clearly an adult. The fine of €250 to €1,000 falls on the seller.

• Peeing in the street costs €350 under the fines table (in Italian), and the UK travel advice for Italy warns of up to €10,000 for urinating in a public place.
• Rubbish. Dropping or dumping rubbish in public areas costs €350, the city's forbidden behaviour page says.
• Clothes. Walking around bare-chested or in swimwear costs €250, and so does undressing or dressing in public. Officers also tell the person to cover up.
• Pigeons and seagulls. Feeding them costs €25 to €500, under the city's animal welfare regulation, its forbidden behaviour page says.
• Washing and fountains. Using soap or shampoo at a fountain costs €250, and washing in public costs €350. Public fountains are for drinking and rinsing hands.
• Noise. Disturbing people's rest with noise, singing or shows is banned from 23:01 to 08:00 and from 12:00 to 15:00. In St Mark's Square, the Piazzetta and Piazzetta dei Leoni, music needs headphones, and instruments, singing and dancing are banned at any hour, apart from the historic cafes' orchestras and authorised events.
• Camping. Staying in a tent or camper in a public place costs €200.
• Padlocks. Fixing a padlock or chain to a bridge or street furniture costs €100, and it is removed.
• Ball games. Ball games and anything else that can hit or bother people are banned in public areas, and the ball is held until the fine is paid. Children aged 11 or under can play in listed squares (in Italian), never in the St Mark's and Rialto areas.
• Street sellers. Buying from sellers with goods on the ground, hung from the body or in large bags costs €200, and the goods are confiscated.
• Drugs. Buying or using drugs in a public place costs €350 under the regulation, and the UK travel advice warns of long jail sentences and heavy fines for illegal drugs, cannabis included.

Article 71-bis of the regulation (in Italian) limits guided groups to 25 people in the historic centre and on Murano, Burano and Torcello. The city council added it in February 2024, and it has applied since August 2024.

• Who counts. Children up to 2 are not counted, and student groups on school trips are exempt. The limit does not cover boarding and leaving boats or coaches.
• Earpieces. Groups of more than 10 must use earpieces, apart from student groups, and guides may not use any kind of loudspeaker.
• Stopping. Groups may not stop where they clearly block people, especially on bridges and their ramps, and must keep their distance from other groups.
• Who pays. The fine of €25 to €500, with a reduced payment of €50, falls on the guide and, for group size, on the organiser. It does not fall on the people in the group.

• Bikes. Riding is banned in the historic centre and on Murano, Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello and San Michele, along with scooters, skateboards, Segways and hoverboards. The fine is €100. Bikes can only be walked between Piazzale Roma and the station. The Lido and Pellestrina can be reached by public transport with a bike.
• Children. Children aged 11 or under can ride, except in the busiest places, such as the St Mark's and Rialto areas and the Mercerie.
• On water buses. ACTV's transport conditions ban food and drink on board and at the stops, soft drinks included. Bags must not exceed 150 cm in total, adding length, width and height, and bikes and scooters must be folded in a case within that size, except on specific routes.
• Tickets. Tickets must be validated before boarding, and inspectors issue on-the-spot fines, the UK travel advice for Italy warns.
• Portable speakers. Using one on public transport costs €350.

Venice's current rules date from 2019, with a few additions since:

The ban on large ships comes from a national decree of 2021 (in Italian). The city's Enjoy Respect Venezia campaign has asked visitors to behave responsibly since 2017.

• Do rest at a cafe table, on a bench or in a public garden, rather than on a bridge or canal wall.
• Do carry a refillable bottle. Public fountains are there for drinking.
• Do keep moving on bridges, and step aside to take a photo.
• Do check the access fee calendar before a day trip, and carry the code on fee days.
• Do pack a shirt for the boat back from the Lido.
• Don't feed the pigeons, even in St Mark's Square.
• Don't take a glass bottle or a glass from a bar out into the street.
• Don't bring a bike for the historic centre. It is a city for walking and water buses.