FLORENCE — Goldsmith Tommaso Pestelli was evicted from his historic Florence workshop to make manner for a luxurious resort, the umpteenth sufferer of mass tourism critics say is ravaging the Italian metropolis.

Requires pressing motion to guard the town centre, a United Nations Instructional, Scientific and Cultural Group (Unesco) website, intensified final month after a museum director mentioned “hit and run” tourism had reworked Florence right into a “prostitute”.

Some 1.5 million vacationers flocked to the town final summer season, up 6.6 per cent on the earlier yr, whereas an growing variety of impartial outlets and residential flats are being reworked into quick meals shops and vacation lets.

“We have been open since 1908. If you happen to eliminate us, and lots of others like us, you’re taking away a part of the town’s spirit,” mentioned Mr Pestelli, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather have been goldsmiths earlier than him.

Mr Pestelli, 55, managed to search out one other little workshop close by, however says many fellow artisans haven’t been so fortunate.

The common price of month-to-month residential rents leapt 42 per cent between 2016 and 2023, whereas the variety of flats listed on Airbnb jumped from some 6,000 to almost 15,000, official figures present.

Even in February, vacationer queues snake across the block on the Duomo and throng round Michelangelo’s David.