Anti-Airbnb protests spread to Milan as key boxes were vandalized by angry locals who say holiday rentals are pricing them out of the Italian city

The anti-Airbnb protests have spread to Milan, with angry locals destroying key boxes of rental properties.

Campaigners in Milan have accused Airbnb of driving up rents and pricing locals out of tourist hotspots in the city. Their slogan ‘This city is not a hotel’ has already generated hundreds of likes on social media.

In the latest protest by the group Chiediamo Casa, locals placed stickers reading “Fewer short rentals, more homes for everyone” on key safes – which give tourists access to their rented accommodation – outside Airbnbs over the weekend.

“Let’s limit tourist rentals, let’s protest against those who want to drive us out of the city with unsustainable rents for inaccessible houses,” the activists wrote in a call to action in early November.

“We want a city for everyone and the right to live in decent housing,” their statement said.

“We wish tourists the best of luck, but we want them to stay in hotels,” campaigner Giacomo Negri told the newspaper Times.

He added that the key boxes were a symbol of short-term rentals, where residents rented out their spare rooms in companies that operated multiple apartments.

In Florence, where nearly a third of the city’s apartments are listed on Airbnb, protesters last weekend used stickers with the slogan “Let’s save Florence so we can live in it.”

This comes just weeks after Italian anti-tourism protesters targeted key safes at holiday properties in a bid to deter visitors who they say are giving away local housing.

Activists calling themselves ‘Robin Hood’ have taken several safes from homes in Rome, blocking travelers from entering their holiday homes.

Letters were attached to lampposts in the city under Robin Hood felt hats, describing the vandalism as ‘the first’ attack on ‘the rich’.

‘If you’re looking for the key safes and can’t find them, read this. We are rebelling,” read one note, shared by local media.

‘We removed these key boxes to challenge the city’s sell-out of short breaks, which is alienating locals and leaving residents on the streets.’

This summer there has been intense backlash against tourists in Mediterranean hotspots, with locals decrying what they see as lax regulations on tourist accommodation, making it harder to find affordable housing.

The rise of rental companies such as Airbnb has led some hosts to switch from renting to residents to renting out rooms or apartments to short-term visitors.

This reduces the overall housing supply, causing rental costs to rise.

According to the activists, rents have risen ‘exponentially’ in recent years. “This is only our first action against the Holy Year of the Rich,” they read in their letters.

More than 35 million tourists visited Rome last year, making it a record year and an all-time high in visitor numbers.

The year before, as Rome recovered from the pandemic, some 15 million arrived – with 30 million overnight stays, a 176 percent increase on 2021.

Next year, Rome and Vatican City will also host the jubilee ‘Holy Year’, which is expected to attract some 30 million visitors from around the world and put extra pressure on locals.

But some residents worry that keeping tourists away will affect their livelihoods or tarnish their city’s reputation.

Protesters clashed with police in Venice in April over a new ‘tourist tax’, which would require visitors to pay a €5 ‘entrance fee’ for short stays.

Protesters armed with signs and banners lined the Italian city’s historic canals to show their contempt, met by riot police with batons.

Critics argue that the €5 (£4.30) fare, which initially came into effect over the summer, is unlikely to make a significant dent in the approximately 30 million trips made to Venice each year.

In a surprising statement, former mayor Massimo Cacciari went so far as to suggest that tourists should outright refuse to pay the “absurd” entrance fee, arguing that they are “already paying for everything.”

Cacciari noted in a statement to Adnkronos news agency that day visitors already pay “three times as much as residents” for the city’s public transportation, and that travelers all contribute to the longevity of Venice’s restaurants and museums.

Representatives also argue that the compensation will not solve the fundamental problems, but will only cloud the city’s public image.

Simone Venturini, councilor in charge of tourism, defended the policy as part of a wider strategy to tackle the problems of overtourism, while admitting it was ‘not a magic wand’.

‘Fewer day trippers do not mean less income, because overnight tourists are more important for the city’s economy.

‘In the medium term we will see the results and in the meantime we will assess how things are going.’

Spain saw the worst fallout from the conflict over the issue this summer, with anti-tourism protesters going so far as to spray visitors with water as they dined out on popular streets.

Under the motto ‘Enough! Let’s set limits on tourism’, according to police, some 2,800 people marched along a Barcelona waterfront neighborhood to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists who visit every year.

Protesters carried signs reading ‘Barcelona is not for sale’ and ‘Tourists go home’, before some used water guns on tourists eating outside.