Sirmione is a small lakeside town in Italy with a 13th-century castle as the main sightseeing destination, which was overrun by tourists during the May Day weekend resulting in chaos, gridlock and hours of waiting.Horrific videos of people stuck in small streets surfaced on social media — the blame is on overtourism.According to reports, local authorities estimate that about 75,000 people visited the medieval town during the May Day holiday weekend. The town has an estimated population of around 8,000. Tourists reportedly had to wait for up to 40 minutes just to get through the gates of Sirmione’s historic town center, The Sun reported.“Went to Sirmione? Posted the selfie? Cool, now what? Overtourism is what happens when *presence is confused with existence* Fast, loud, empty. Like fast fashion—disposable and harmful. Travel less, mean more,” one wrote with a video of cards stuck with in the middle of a crowd to enter the city center. “Overrun by tourists — chaos, gridlock, and hours of waiting. A crisis that must be urgently addressed and regulated. It damages our heritage and turns the experience into a negative one,” another wrote.The Times of London reported that Sirmione was governed by the Venetian Republic from 1405 to 1797 and it may need to borrow a tactic from its former rulers, after Venice introduced an access charge to try to limit arrivals during the most popular dates of the holiday calendar.Marco Merlo, the president of the hotel and restaurant operators association said: “We’re very worried about public safety and the quality of life for tourists, residents and workers. We hope the council will involve us in finding effective and widely agreed strategies.”Sirmione has a long list of admirers, the Times report said. Roman poet Catullus, English poet Alfred Tennyson, Ezra Pound and James Joyce all visited Sirmione. Former UK prime minister Theresa May has visited the lakeside town for the last 25 years with her husband, Philio; Sigmund Freud called it paradise.
