tourism-italia.com

Now let this be a lesson to all of you who tend to find yourself answering the call of nature in obscure places. On Monday night, the Mayor of Venice Massimo Cacciari caught a Portuguese man relieving himself into one of the city’s famous canals. The man was told off by the Mayor and the police were called. According to what Cacciari told reporters on Tuesday, he “saw a gentleman peeing in a canal and took the liberty of telling him that he probably wouldn’t do so in his living room”. The Portuguese tourist was fined 50 euros for his deed and sent on his way. However, this all seems a bit fishy to me considering Cacciari is facing criticism over the up-keep of Venice. The regional governor of Veneto, Giancarlo Galan, and Civil Service Minister Renato Brunetta have accused the Mayor of not doing enough to rid the city of rats and pigeons and that he has sold out to major companies, such as Coca Cola. But the moral of this story is, next time you are caught short in Venice, don’t pee in a canal or you face a fine!