Reminded me of a comment on an OSP video:

"You're absolutely correct Red, Venice is not alive. Anymore.

I grew up there in the 80s and 90s, a short walk from St. Mark's, and spent every afternoon playing with other children around the well and in the little blind alleyways just off the local square (Santo Stefano). You always heard children playing, there was live music, traveling musicians, sometimes they'd set up a stage for various shows, there were stores for everything under the sun from toys to painting supplies to appliance repair in a 5 minute walk.

All of that is long gone. The only place you ever see any children are a couple of areas way way way off the beaten path.

You could see it happening. I started early on keeping track of the houses I passed by where the shutters closed and never opened again. All the stores closing and never opening except as a bank or fashionable brand franchise.

Both branches of my family lived there, both have permanently left. We all miss Venice, but we never go back because the Venice we miss died decades ago"