Today, for the first time, when buying some Christmas cookies at a small, but amazing looking bakery I transacted solely in Italian. Not that I speak it, but I seem to have enough words that with my knowledge of French, I can string together what seems like functional phrases and when I’m not sure, I wing it by Italianizing a French word – which seems to work often enough. Or, the person I’m dealing with speaks English – which is usually the case.
It also helps that very few people we deal with are actually Italian. Venice is full of foreign workers and even business owners. We’ve met a lot of Bangladeshis who usually have great English, a fair number of Chinese and Vietnamese, a scattering of Arabs, Russians, and even a Turk. I haven’t noticed a lot of Africans – although there are a few guys who beg and/or may be pickpockets from Senegal in some of the very touristy areas. Seemingly no Ethiopians or Eritreans – which would have some historical basis for Italian immigration.
The Bangladeshi population of the Veneto Region is about 8,200, making up 3.3 percent of the 250,100 population. Keep in mind, few Bangladeshis or anyone else for that matter live in the historic city center which has only 50,000 full-time residents across all districts. In other words, just 20 percent of Venetians live in Venice proper.
While Bangladeshis have a fair number of tourist shops, most are employees – some doing the gritty jobs like washing dishes and others serving tables, manning front desks and staffing Christmas market booths. From my limited research, it seems the Chinese community is a bit different. Many of the almost 2,200 Chinese residents of Venice own businesses – their immigration being largely based on investment. We’ve seen a few Chinese women running cafes and small restaurants here in the Canneregio and in Desoduro, a cafe we stopped at for a rest had a Chinese name on the credit card receipt.
Immigration is a tinder-box issue right now throughout much of the developed world and it’s not hard to see here in Venice where the sentiment that Europe is becoming less European comes from. The faces of hospitality in Venice, Italy are frequently not Italian.
Let me preface this by saying, I’m no fan of illegal immigration. I am a firm supporter of legal immigration – done in ways a country deems in its national interests – usually to attract needed brains and braun.
Italy doesn’t seem to have a choice but to foster significant immigration. Almost 25 percent of its population is older than 65 – the largest aging population in Europe – with a life expectancy of 80 (slightly better than the United States’ 79) and a median age of 48.7. Its birth rate is 1.2 births per woman – well below the replacement rate and in 2023, it had only 400,000 births. It only makes sense that a generation of educated people in an age of reproductive choice in a first world country would choose to have fewer children in order to enjoy a better lifestyle. It’s happening in developed nations around the world in part because in the history of the world, it has literally never been possible for people to make this choice before. People are optimizing their quality of life.
There are several problems that emerge from this choice. One being thriving economies and shrinking populations rarely go hand-in-hand. Economies need productive people – which gets to the next problem. An educated population in a developed country usually wants the high-paying, prestigious jobs. Only, someone has to do the literal dirty work. That often includes taking care of the elderly – of which there are now more globally and which people with careers and families find themselves having less room and inclination to take on. Elder care is a burgeoning industry whose jobs Italians and Americans are not readily signing up to do. Of course, if they did – then the cost of elder care would skyrocket beyond its already heavy cost burden.
If Italy wants to maintain a healthy economy and a decent standard of living, it seems immigration is a necessity. Sure, there may be certain cultures that are more compatible with Italian culture than others – but whether they’re from Bangladesh, Paraguay or Zanzibar – immigration seem inevitable. Accordingly, the experience of traveling Venice is also changing. For better? For worse? I don’t know – it’s my first time and there are probably a lot of other factors in play that make Venice the experience it is. I just know it’s rarely an Italian making me a cappuccino or scooping my gelato.
Of course, the real question is whether Italians feel they’re better off.
Much like the United States right now, Italian public opinion on immigration is mixed, complex and often nuanced. It’s not surprising that a historically homogenous culture would feel angst about immigration. Like most developed countries, immigration creates concerns for members of the majority culture who worry their jobs might be taken or they could lose political and social control. Italy isn’t trying to become a diverse nation – it’s just trying to keep the floors mopped, the ditches dug, the grandmas cared for and the tourists helped. It still wants an Italian Italy.
Navigating this tenuous situation will be hard and Italy, like most homogenous developed countries has no assurances of what may come.
Like so many things, I like the Singaporean answer to the immigration quandary – have a class of immigrants who get limited-term work passes. Most of Singapore’s blue-collar workforce are from surrounding countries – including Bangladesh – who have finite-term employment agreements with a clear understanding they have no opportunity to immigrate. Moreover, they are barred from marriage to Singaporeans and in most cases, will have their employment terminated and work passes revoked should they get pregnant, get someone pregnant or engage in a relationship with a Singaporean national. Harsh? Yes. At the same time, Singapore makes the rules clear in advance.
In other words, Singapore’s answer to the low birthrate, aging population dilemma is that importing labor and immigration can be two separate things.
For Sennen and Ailyn, almost none of this mattered today except that they notice how many well-spoken Bangladeshis they deal with.
What they cared about was taking a Vaporetto to the Castello district, exploring it, snacking there, seeing the Arsenale where the Venetian army once kept its heavy armaments and finding a late lunch in the adjacent San Marco district. The Castello was pretty and quiet with a number of nice restaurants, cafes and art galleries. It is Venice’s largest district where the largest percentage of the 50,000 island-dwellers reside. While it was very pleasant to walk around, the Castello seemed to capture none of us. For a quiet residential district, it lacked the Desoduro’s charm and beauty. It didn’t have enough energy for Sennen or enough shopping for Ailyn. We were glad to say we’ve seen it and happy enough to move on.
“I really just want to spend time in the Canneregio,” Sennen said. “Our home district really is my favorite. I like all the shops and the square – it’s really good.”
To which Ailyn agreed.
The highlight of Venice for the kids has been the Christmas market we go to EVERY day stretching between the Canneregio and San Marco. So, after a quick lunch of visually appealing, but actually sad mini-pizzas, we walked our way from the San Marco to the Christmas market and back to the Canneregio. We grabbed a pistachio arancini along the way – because I had to know what that was about – and both kids did a little last-minute shopping. There was one Canneregio canal I’ve talked about exploring for awhile and Sennen felt we should finally do it. So, we walked the length of it until we got a little lost and with Google’s help, walked the shockingly long journey back to our apartment.
We completed the journey of 11, 665 steps – in keeping with our +/- 12,000 steps a day since we’ve been here. Add in dinner tonight and we’ll easily clear the 12,000 mark.
During a cafe break in the Castello, the kids had a moment of where two seemingly dissonant things can be simultaneously true. They don’t want to leave Venice. Yet, they’re kinda’ done with it. On one hand, they love how pretty Venice is and enjoy hanging out in the Canneregio. On the other, it’s kinda’ hard to get around and there’s nothing in particular they want to see that they haven’t. They’re ready for a change of pace and yet, there’s they like what they have. It seems like the perfect way to end the chapter.
Tomorrow we have a 12:05 pm high-speed train to Rome, arrive at 4:05 and then will need to quickly grocery shop before the city completely shuts-down for Christmas. And then, we settle in. Ailyn thinks we should familiarize ourselves with the streets of Rome while the crowds are away. I’m more of the mind to have a quiet day in – just as we did in Cannes two years ago. It was a great day to recharge. Maybe like then, we’ll do what Jews do on Christmas and see a movie….?
Last night we watched the Heath Ledger 2005 Cassanova movie. While not the best movie, it was cute – and most importantly – filmed in Venice. It highlighted what the kids have learned and seen and gave it context. It was fun. The movie took a lot of liberties with its libertine protagonist, including having him escape Venice. In reality, Cassanova was expelled twice. It seems there’s a time when everyone – even someone as Venetian as Cassanova – must leave Venice. We’re sad to leave and happy to go
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