Tourists will have to pay a €5 ($AU 8.21) access contribution to peruse the city between 8am and 4pm. The city council will be running the pilot project until mid-July to see if it will be successful.

Tourists staying overnight will not have to pay the access fee as an overnight tax is already added to their accommodation fees.

However, those staying overnight have to register and request an exemption.

Residents and those who were born in the Veneto region will also be exempt from the fee.

The new fee sparked a protest, with hundreds of locals gathering at Piazzale Roma.

One of the protest organisers and spokesperson for anti-cruise ship campaign group No Grandi Navi, Ruggero Tallon, told CNN that they disputed the “mayor’s idea of a closed city, a museum city.”

“A ticket does nothing. It doesn’t stop the monoculture of tourism. It doesn’t ease the pressure on Venice. It’s a medieval tax and it’s against freedom of movement.”

He added that he is concerned that this pilot project is being managed by a private company that would be gathering people’s data.

“With the one hand they are doing this, with the other they are doing everything to increase the number of tourists,” he continued.

“The only way [forward] is to repopulate the city – we have 49,000 inhabitants and there are more beds for tourists than residents,” he said. “Let’s try to make it possible for people to live here. Every house that’s lived in is a house taken away from tourism.”