François Picard speaks with Venice’s new mayor, Simone Venturini, who is 38 years old and one month into office. He says his governing style is about balancing contradictions rather than embracing absolutes. For Venturini, Venice cannot be reduced to an open-air museum threatened by mass tourism, or just a global cultural icon. Instead, he portrays it as a living, breathing city that must preserve its fragile heritage, remain open to international exchange and reinvent its economic future.
