They are assaulted on a daily basis by giant cruise ships , uncouth tourists, feral pigeons and flooding caused by high tides. 
 
 Now Venetians have declared war on a new foe – noisy suitcases on wheels. 
 
 Shopkeepers, cafe owners and residents say they are being driven half mad by the incessant rumble of visitors trundling their luggage along the city's narrow alleyways and up and down delicate stone bridges. 
 
 The wheeled suitcases are essential in a city without roads, where tourists have to reach their hotels either by water bus or by walking. 
 
 Now Venice council wants to introduce a ban on luggage equipped with hard rubber wheels, forcing the city's 27 million annual visitors to instead use suitcases that roll on air-filled, softer wheels that make less noise. 
 
 The authorities are concerned about "growing noise pollution" caused not only by tourists using wheeled luggage, but local businesses wheeling goods around on trolleys, the council said in a statement. 
 
 The daily rumble of wheeled suitcases was giving Venetians "serious discomfort" and also causing the "progressive deterioration" of centuries-old paving slabs, marble steps and foot bridges, it added. 
 
 The council, which is under special administration after a corruption scandal earlier this year forced the resignation of the mayor, wants to introduce the ban next May. 
 
 After that, anyone with a noisy, hard-wheeled suitcase will be liable to a fine of up to 500 euros. 
 
 For a city wrestling with so many problems – rising waters caused by global warming, an exodus of locals because of high rents and property prices, and a daily invasion of 60,000 tourists – the issue of noisy luggage may seem trifling. 
 
 "Is that true? Jesus, that's crazy," a French tourist told Il Gazzettino, a local newspaper, when told that his suitcase on wheels will be banned within a few months. 
 
 A young Italian woman pulling her suitcase along the banks of the Grand Canal said: "It seems to me to be a pretty stupid idea." 
 
 But the council insists that the issue is a real one and that locals living near hotels and bed and breakfasts dread the moment when groups of tourists arrive and leave, dragging their heavy loads over the city's stone paving stones, known as "masegni". 
 
 The council admits that the new law will be hard to enforce, with thousands of tourists arriving by train, plane and boat every day, and that trolleys with pneumatic wheels are hard to come by. 
 
 The vast majority sold around the world have wheels made of hard resin or plastic. 
 
 The authorities hope that a firm will spy an opportunity to produce a new line of Venice-friendly suitcases. 
 
 "The law won't come into effect until May, so hopefully by then one or two companies might start producing trolley suitcases with air-filled wheels," said Maurizio Dorigo, the council's planning director. 
 
 The new, hushed suitcases would benefit not only Venice but the historic centres of many Italian cities, he said. "The historical centres of lots of other places have the same problems as us – Rome, Florence, Siena. There needs to be a way for tourists to wheel around their luggage without making that crazy noise." 
 
 Long-suffering Venetians will be exempt from the new law and will be free to clunk their noisy suitcases up and down the canal banks. 

 The Local · 20 Nov 2014, 16:39 
 
 Published: 20 Nov 2014 16:39 GMT+01:00 
 
 Tourists to Venice could face a €500 fine if they dare wheel noisy suitcases around the watery city, under new proposals outlined on Thursday. 
 
 Venetians are tired of being kept awake at night by throngs of tourists, wheeling their luggage through the city’s narrow streets and over its famous bridges. 
 
 Now the city’s special commissioner, Vittorio Zappalorto, has come up with a plan to let his citizens get their 40 winks: ban the suitcases. 
 
 Under new anti-noise pollution proposals, tourists will be barred from bringing luggage with plastic or full rubber wheels to Venice. But bicycle-style tyres, made from rubber and filled with air, will be allowed, Ansa reported. 
 
 If Zapalorto’s plan gets the go ahead, tourists will be fined between €100 and €500 if they break the suitcase rule. 
 
 Venetians, however, will be free to continue to use whichever luggage they please. 
 
 Story continues below… 
 
 SEE ALSO: €500 fine for tourists who steal Sicily rock
– You may need to ditch your rolling suitcase if you plan on visiting Venice in the future. Under a new proposal introduced yesterday, the Italian city would fine tourists caught with a suitcase on plastic or hard rubber wheels up to $620 beginning in May, the Local reports. Apparently the din from luggage rolling on the city's centuries-old paving slabs and bridges drives Venetians bonkers, keeps them up at night, and amounts to "noise pollution," per the city council. It says the incessant wheeling is also slowly damaging the slabs. What would be permitted: luggage with rubber wheels filled with air, though the city council acknowledges such baggage is hard to find. It also notes that enforcing the ban widely would be pretty tough—60,000 tourists pour into the city daily. Further, the Telegraph describes wheeled bags as a must in a city whose lack of roads means tourists typically have to walk (or take a water bus) to their hotel. Still, the city hopes a company will jump at the opportunity to make specifically Venice-friendly bags. (A town in Hawaii wants to ban tourists altogether.)