Today's Gazzettino devotes numerous stories to what is described as "an invasion on the order of the Barbarians and Vandals" in Piazza San Marco last New Year's Eve. It's being compared to the infamous Pink Floyd concert on July 22, 1989, where the band performed on a floating stage in the Bacino and the city severely overfilled with fans, some of whom turned it into a dump, even damaging some monuments. (The Floyd concert was a good idea gone wrong. Here's a site in Italian with a few pictures ... it looked like an amazing spectacle.)
The Comune di Venezia ... the city goverment ... had apparently issued new ordinances just before New Year's that nobody knew about. All forms of fireworks were banned. No bottles of any type were allowed. No alcohol was to be sold from "sportelli": open windows and stands. Needless to say, there were plenty of explosions, mounds of broken glass, and a bumper crop of massively drunk people.
The morning after has brought recriminations and rabid outrage from citizens, who feel let down by a a city that promised "double the security in the Piazza" this year. I'm sure this story will have follow-ups.
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