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Comment by keiferski | Hacker News Reader

Oh I think the idea of Venice is brilliant. Historically it must have been incredible, when the palaces were actually in use and not simply museums. But at this point the entire economy of the city is based on tourism. Any trace of authentic life sunk a long time ago.

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I can understand it feels like this, but I assure real people live and work there, and there is a real local culture and authentic life.

I lived there and I lived in many other cities like Paris, London, Munich, Krakow, Bangkok and Bali.

Venice is one of the most authentic cities of them all.

The language is alive and evolving.

It's a bit like the fight club, real locals recognize each others, while the tourists think it's just a Disneyland.

Quite fascinating!

Peoples' "authentic life" is finding a job, finding housing, finding a school for the kids, interacting with neighbors, dealing with trash pickup and water bills, etc. A tourist can never experience that. Even if you experience the flooding with real Venetians, you're not going to deal with the water damage for weeks afterward, or attempting to get insurance claims paid. But that's "authentic life."

Charming restaurants, quirky bookshops, etc., that's not "authentic life." That's frivolity. Sharing frivolities with the locals doesn't give you any insight into their "authentic life." Tourism is always Disneyland. It's always fake. It's just different versions of Disneyland for people of different temperaments.

(It's funny you mention Bangkok. I was born in Bangkok. What exactly is less "authentic" about it than Venice? How can a city even be less "authentic" than another city?)

Au contraire: fantasy and frivolity are essential to an "authentic life". Regardless of where you were born and what station you were born into.

Where is the city called Bali?

I meant Bali the island, sorry

I can confirm. When my wife was working at the University of Padova, she had a colleague from Venice. We'd go visit him once in a while and he'd show us around some of the more 'normal people' places. I mean, yes, it's very touristy, but "real people" do live there.

When I visited Venice, around 15 years ago, at first I was not impressed. I'd seen the fake version at a theme park, and somehow it felt like more of the same.

But then I saw a couple traces of authentic life. We ran into a local walking her dog, and my friend (who speaks fluent Italian) chatted her up. On one of the smaller canals I saw a road sign -- not seemingly aimed at tourists or even gondoliers, but at ordinary Venetians trying to get around.

All of a sudden, the whole city felt amazing.

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