Tourist is hit with 7 euro surcharge for background music at café in Venice's St Mark's Square

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 03:59 EDT, 17 September 2026 | Updated: 04:26 EDT, 17 September 2026 An Italian tourist who dined at a café in Venice's famous St Mark's Square was forced to pay extra for background ambient music. Simona Pera, who was visiting the famous 'floating city' from Tuscany, was surprised when her bill at Caffé Florian included a secret fee of 7 Euros, or £6, bringing her total to 72 Euros. Sharing a picture of her receipt on Facebook, she wrote: 'It's the music supplement,' alongside a laughing emoji. The receipt showed how Pera was charged 31 Euros for two croissants, 34 Euros for two Aperol Spritzes and an additional 7 Euros for the 'music supplement.'Pera told Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera: 'There was a small orchestra of three musicians playing...enlivening the conversation of the customers in the café with their music.''We knew that sitting at the tables of this renowned café, right in Piazza San Marco, would be expensive... but when I read that statement on the receipt, I confess I had to laugh,' she added. It is not uncommon for restaurants and cafés in Venice, an extremely popular tourist destination, to add hidden fees to their customers' bills. In addition, the Italian city charges holidaymakers a 'tourist tax', which visitors have to pay their hotels per night - a move authorities say is used to control mass tourism.Venice welcomes between 20 and 30 million tourists annually, with about 21 million being day-trippers. Tourist Simona Pera shared a picture of her receipt on Facebook (pictured)Pera was charged an additional 7 Euros for background music while visiting Caffé Florian in St Mark's Square (file image of the eatery)Surging visitor numbers have brought the historic centre's delicate infrastructure to the brink, with local frustration reaching a breaking point.To manage overtourism, the iconic lagoon city launched a 5 Euro daily fee for day-trippers in April 2024, targetting the most crowded days. In 2025, the tax remained in place, but entry fees rose to €10, or £8.68, for those who failed to make reservations up to four days in advance, while the enforcement period expanded to 54 days.However, Venice is just one of the many global hotspots that have introduced a levy to help manage the high numbers of visitors and bring extra revenue into the area.The amount can vary, from a few euros a night extra in Rome to a percentage of the room rate in Amsterdam.Manchester introduced a City Visitor Charge back in 2023, and Edinburgh is set to bring something similar in from July.Tourists heading to check out the vibrant nightlife, colourful architecture and culture of Amsterdam are expected to pay 12.5 per cent extra on top of the cost of their hotel room.Called 'Toeristenbelasting', it's one of the highest visitor fees in Europe, and was increased from seven per cent, plus €3 (£2.60) per person, in 2024.In Spain, travellers aged over 16 are expected to pay a varying local rate plus 10 per cent VAT when visiting spots including Mallorca, Menorca, Formentera and Ibiza.The rates decrease during off-season months, typically between November and April.