A French tourist has sparked a police investigation and local outrage after allegedly scattering human ashes into Venice’s St Mark’s Basin from a public waterbus, in footage that has gone viral and highlighted the strict rules governing where remains can be dispersed in the city.
The unnamed woman was filmed emptying a bag containing what appears to be human ashes over the side of the vessel as it passed the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Fellow passengers can be heard shouting in the clip as the ashes are released into the water. A fellow traveller captured the incident on camera, and the footage has since prompted an investigation by authorities.
Under Venetian law, the scattering of ashes is tightly regulated and restricted to a small number of designated locations. These include the Gardens of Remembrance at the cemeteries of San Michele, Mestre and Marghera, a designated section of the northern lagoon behind San Michele cemetery, and the Adriatic Sea, provided dispersal takes place more than 2,000 feet from the shore. In all cases, ceremonies must be authorised in advance and reported to the relevant authorities. Scattering ashes anywhere else in the Venetian Lagoon is strictly forbidden and carries heavy penalties. If the tourist is found to have breached these rules, she faces a substantial fine. One commenter on the video wrote: “There is regulation and it must be respected.”
The incident adds to a series of similar controversies at European holiday destinations in recent years. A British woman was separately filmed scattering a loved one’s ashes across the narrow streets of Oia in Santorini, Greece, emptying a clear plastic bottle outside residents’ homes while a group accompanying her sang Bob Marley’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.” One member of the group was heard saying “Goodbye Dad” as the last of the ashes were scattered, prompting applause from the party. The incident reportedly reflected the deceased’s final wishes, but provoked immediate fury among islanders. A local official working for the Chamber of Commerce described it as a “health bomb,” adding: “You can’t just throw ash everywhere. It’s constantly windy on our island, so all this went everywhere, on passersby, shops and houses. Some limits must finally be set.”
In 2024, a family prompted a health scare at a popular Turkish beach resort after scattering ashes in the water at Uzunyali beach, with beachgoers alerting authorities to what they described as a potential health hazard.
