"Chaos, Gridlock And Hours Of Waiting": Video Shows Thousands Of Tourists Overrunning Small Town In Italy

A video showing thousands of tourists inundating a small Italian town over the weekend is going viral online. According to the New York Post, the incident took place over the weekend at Sirmione, a village in Italy of about 8,000 residents. The video, shared on X, shows tourists creating a "gridlock", obstructing traffic and forcing other sightseers to wait hours to get in. It also shows throngs of travellers lining up at the gates and piling into Sirmione's narrow passageways, trying to enter the gates to reach the town centre. 

"These shocking images are from Sirmione, on Lake Garda, Italy this weekend. 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. So sad," one X user wrote while sharing the video on the microblogging site. 

Take a look below: 

— Mambo Italiano (@mamboitaliano__) May 4, 2025

According to the Post, Sirmione has become a popular sightseeing destination due to its Roman ruins, thermal baths, and Scaligero Castle, a majestic 13th-century fortification. Over the May Day holiday, the picturesque town turned into a mosh pit after over 75,000 visitors descended on the small town to visit the fortress. As a result, cars and electric buses reportedly became snarled in the foot traffic while visitors had to wait 40 minutes to enter through the gates to reach Sirmione's town centre.

Speaking to the media, Marco Merlo, the president of the hotel and restaurant operators association, said that he was "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," he added. 

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Members of a local group, Siamo Sirmione ("We Are Sirmione"), also decried the swamping of their small town. "If this is the council's management model the risk is not just hardship for residents but a real and lasting harm for the tourism and image of Sirmione," the group said.

Separately, Roberto Salaorni, the official responsible for transport, said they didn't intend to mitigate the number of visitors entering the narrow bridge to access the castle, but admitted that the flow could've been managed better. "This is the first thing to do, possibly installing a barrier at the entrance to the castle, which would enable us to manage exceptional situations such as we saw on Friday," he said. But he noted that he had never "seen so many people" visiting the town or the neighbouring lake towns.