‘I used to tell people Venice is safe – but that’s gone in the last two years’

“We were going through an alleyway near the Rialto Bridge and we got separated and, all of a sudden, I had a person in front of me and a person behind me. It was raining and the person in front of me stopped abruptly, but I know the street. I know there are no shops or other things to look at. My immediate instinct was to put my hand up and, just as I did that, I felt a hand trying to go into my bag,” says Monica Cesarato, an experienced Venice tour guide and blogger.

Shockingly, it was the second attempted pickpocketing she’d experienced that day. “I used to say to my clients, ‘don’t worry, it’s very safe’. But that safety has gone really, really fast in the last two years,” she says.

Unlawful behaviour is on the rise across Italy according to the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, though Venice only came ninth in its list of crimes per inhabitant in the country’s cities (Milan, Rome and Florence topped the rankings). Pickpocket-ers play a big part: Italy was number one in Quotezone.co.uk’s 2024 European Pickpocketing Index, which examined the percentage of mentions of the crime in online tourist reviews of top sites.

According to the research, the places tourists are most likely to be pickpocketed in Italy, France and Spain are around Rome’s Trevi Fountain, Paris’s Eiffel Tower and Barcelona’s La Rambla respectively. However, the problem is widespread enough for general warnings to feature on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) safety and security pages for all of the countries. Where else in Europe’s most-visited cities – Venice, Rome, Paris and Barcelona – do tourists need to watch out?

Rome: Take care on the number 64 bus

Petty crime has long been a problem in the country, but Italians are preparing for a bumper year of thefts in 2025. “Wages have been stagnant in Italy even as inflation raised prices so there is some anecdotal evidence that pickpocketing increased slightly,” says Natalie Kennedy of the blog An American in Rome, who has lived in the city for 15 years. “2025 is a Jubilee year which means larger crowds and more opportunities for thieves, so it could get worse.”

It’s not just the number of Italian pickpockets that’s the problem, but also their finesse. Often smartly dressed, with baseball hats hiding their faces and jackets draped over their arms to conceal ill-gotten gains, they “could look like anyone,” according to Kennedy.

Busy railway and underground stations are their main hunting grounds in Rome. “Pay extra attention to anyone who seems too close to you on public transportation, particularly if you feel yourself being pushed or jostled when trying to enter the metro or bus. The pushing is meant to distract your attention from the hand that is reaching for your wallet,” she says.

Though locals don’t escape the thieves, they do know where they operate most. “Some of the main metro stations, including Termini and Piramide, are notorious pickpocket hangouts. Buses that run from Termini train station to major sights, including line 64 that goes to the Vatican, are also regularly targeted by thieves because they tend to be filled to capacity.”

Venice: ‘Gangs come from Treviso, with women doing the thefts’

In Venice, “there are gangs in the areas of Rialto, San Marco, Piazzale Roma and where people are catching buses. It’s not just young people, but organised crime,” says Cesarato. “They don’t live here. They come on a train from Treviso and other places but they come in groups. You have women doing the thefts, and then you have the guys that keep an eye to make sure the police aren’t around. If, as a local, you try to say something, you get struck in the face. You get beaten up.”

The sheer volume of tourists in the city may have exacerbated the problem: visitor numbers continue to rise despite attempts by the authorities to limit them. “I tell people to be very careful when they go on buses, or at the entrance to water bus stops,” says Cesarato.

Paris: Watch out on metro lines 1, 6, and 9

If Paris’s pickpockets look young, it’s because they are. “They are often adolescents since it is extremely difficult for minors to go to jail here,” according to the US Embassy website. Teens work metro trains in groups, surrounding targets as they get on or off or snatching belongings and then leaving just as the doors close.

The city’s population is savvy to their tricks, so thieves tend to reserve their efforts for tourists. “Residents realise that it is a side-effect of living in a metropolis, but not one that plagues locals,” says Paris-based writer Lindsey Tramuta, author of The New Parisienne.

Instead, pickpockets focus their efforts “around the Champs de Mars park where the Eiffel Tower sits, in the Tuileries Gardens, outside the Musée d’Orsay, at the foot of Montmartre and along the stairs leading up to Sacré Coeur – and on metro lines that cover large swathes of the city’s monuments, such as line 1, 6, and 9,” she says.

Near the major sites, scammers use age-old ring or bracelet tricks to distract their marks. “Someone approaches you asking you if some ring or item on the ground is yours and when you bend down or move closer to take a look, someone else tries to swipe your stuff,” she adds.

She cautions that tourists should be vigilant in restaurants too: “While dining, particularly on café terraces, it’s unwise to leave belongings on the ground or phones on the tables, as they can be snatched in a millisecond. Be wary, also, of anyone (not associated with the restaurant) who comes up to you while you’re dining or drinking and tries to present you with information or some kind of petition. They’ll typically place a piece of paper on top of your belongings, and while you’re leaning in to read, use another hand to snatch your stuff.”

Barcelona: Shadowy alleyways make the Barrio Gótico a crime hotspot

The Catalan capital is home to Europe’s most notorious pickpocketing hotspot La Rambla – and tourists are now well aware of the situation. Travel websites come packed with tips on using cross-body bags, carrying as few personal possessions as possible and keeping phones and valuables out of sight.

Thieves are – quite literally – fighting back. Violent street robberies increased by 6 per cent in the city between 2022 and 2023. And, away from its most notorious street, the Barrio Gótico has earned itself a reputation for night-time petty crime thanks to narrow, shadowy alleyways that make the perfect stomping ground for thieves. Other popular tourist attractions including the beach, Parc Guell and the area around the Sagrada Familia are also known targets.

On the Paseo de Gràcia – Barcelona’s equivalent of Bond Street – thieves look out for expensive watches to rip from people’s wrists. In 2024, Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie had his Rolex stolen at knife point while he was in the city for qualification races for the America’s Cup. In a statement given to BBC News, the sportsman said: “Like in all big cities, you can be affected by opportunistic crime and my situation is no different. This is now a matter with the local authorities.”

But is London worse than all of them?

Despite the growing issues, many European city dwellers are glad that they don’t live in what they perceive to be Europe’s thievery hotspot – London. Westminster, Camden and Southwark are the boroughs worst affected, with pickpocketing rising more than 700 per cent in Westminster in the three years until 2024 according to research by the security industry platform Get Licensed.

Concern is mostly reserved for the rise in bag and phone snatches by mask-wearing moped users. “We don’t, for now, have the same issue as in London with motorcyclists or bicyclists swiping items from pedestrians’ hands,” says Tramuta of Paris.