Hard Times: For ordinary Venetians, life is no gondola ride

Lidia Fersuoch remembers as a child growing up in Venice's San Samuele neighbourhood (seen here), there were two butchers, several grocery stores, two bakeries, a sewing goods store and even a cobbler.

"Alas, they're all gone now," said Fersuoch, director of the Venice branch of the national conservation group Italia Nostra (Our Italy), sighing with nostalgia.

Venice's resident population has sunk to little more than 59,000, down from about 175,000 at the end of World War Two.

Wikimedia Commons

Text: Philip Pullella, Reuters