The key-boxes outside many Italian B&Bs and apartments have been sealed in protest at the overtourism that is invading Italy.
Short-term rentals: blitz against key-boxes
In recent months, the uneasiness throughout the country has become much more acute B&B e apartments ad tourist use mainly sponsored by the platforms Airbnb e Booking.
It is the fruit of expensive houseof the large deficit that our country (but not only, Spain and France navigate in the same waters) is unable to overcome in terms of properties made available for sale and/or rental for residential use.
The key-boxes are installed on gates, doors and walls of buildings – photo Manomano.it
So far, several demonstrations have taken place in various Italian cities with the common denominator being the protest against massive tourism and the tendency of property owners to favor tourist use over residential use.
Well, all this resulted in night between 28 and 29 December in a sort of ‘punitive expedition’ towards the key-boxes.
Also called lockboxes, they are key boxes which are installed outside the buildings where apartments for tourist use are located to allow guests to collect the keys and access the property without requiring the physical presence of its owner.
These key-boxes are applied to gates, railings, walls and, unfortunately, now even on the walls of historic buildings… in short, business doesn’t look at anyone in the face.
Il blitz took place at Florence, Venice, Milan, Rimini and Genoacities particularly affected by the contrast expensive home – massive tourism, and consisted of seal these key boxes using adhesive tape.
It was mainly a symbolic gesture, in fact, the adhesive tape that covered the key boxes was always accompanied by a message.
Owners and passersby read “Your B&B is our expulsion” in Genoa, “Your B&B is our eviction” on the key-boxes of Rimini, “Your house was my house” in Venice, “Fewer short-term rentals, more homes for everyone” instead the protest slogan chosen by the Milanese.
Over the last forty years, the construction of new homes has almost halved and the latest sector study published last November highlighted that 60% of the demand for homes has moved from purchase to rental, because it is always more difficult for potential buyers to present adequate credentials for lenders to grant them the mortgage.
The result we have achieved is that today we find ourselves with cities whose historic centers are progressively being depopulated of their original inhabitants and the buildings are being transformed into structures dedicated to tourist accommodation.
The spokesperson of the movement that put a gag on the key-boxes in Florence, Massimo Torelli, declared that the situation in the Tuscan capital is dramatic: the high rents are forcing the Florentines to renounce to live in own city.
And this declaration is echoed in Venice, Milan, Rimini, Genoa but also Rome and Naples.
Source: www.lavorincasa.it
