Traveling to Venice next year? Leave your rolling suitcase at home.
Venice's city council is considering a ban on rolling suitcases with hard wheels, according to Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino. The council said residents are frustrated with the noise pollution that suitcase wheels make on cobblestone streets.
Transportation in Venice is limited, so wheeled suitcases are practically necessary for visitors to the city. Residents would be exempt from the ban, but tourists who roll through town could be fined up to 500 euros ($620). However, the council admitted it would be difficult to enforce, according to The Telegraph.
If approved, the ban would go into effect next year.
"The law won't come into effect until May, so hopefully by then, one or two companies might start producing trolley suitcases with air-filled wheels," said Venice city council's planning director Maurizio Dorigo.
That hope seems misguided; suitcases designed for air travel all use small, hard wheels. Air-inflated tires, on the other hand, are usually found on trolleys made for carting around groceries, as well as strollers.
In a poll on Il Gazzettino, 48% of readers said a ban on wheeled suitcases would be wrong.
More than 20 million tourists visit Venice each year.