Artisans and craftspeople fear future in Florence 'dying' of tourism

'We've been open since 1908. If you get rid of us, and many others like us, you take away part of the city's spirit,' said Pestelli, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather were goldsmiths before him. Photo: AFP

Goldsmith Tommaso Pestelli was evicted from his historic Florence workshop to make way for a luxury hotel, the umpteenth victim of a mass tourism critics say is ravaging the Italian city.

Calls for urgent action to protect the city centre, a Unesco site, intensified last month after a museum director said "hit and run" tourism had transformed Florence into a "prostitute".