A hotel has taken steps to keep their guests safe from crazed seagulls - handing them water guns as soon as they check in.
The four-star Venice venue is so fed up of the aggressive birds they have decided to make sure they stay well clear of the people who are staying with them.
It's not just Brits who are relentlessly pestered the them. The historic Gritti Hotel near the Grand Canal have reacted to a number of complaints about the gulls this year.
On one concerning occasion, one "flew off with an entire steak just as the waiter lifted the lid off the plate he was serving it on” one worrying report stated.
But tourists in Italy don't even need to spray the pesky animals.
According to Paolo Lorenzoni, a director at the hotel, they really do not like orange - the colour of the pistols he has handed to guests.
That, he says, is often enough to send them flying off into the distance, for a while at least.
"They really work and they're also coloured orange, which those birds don't like," Mr Lorenzoni told ANSA.
"As soon as they see the pistols, they just fly away.
"So really you don't even need to use them, you just need to keep them on the table."
The Gritti had also previously experimented with a fake owl and a falcon to hunt down the thieving creatures and they feel their latest ideal is already a big winner.
Attacks by up to 15 gulls are not uncommon in Venice, causing serious disruption and annoyance.
It has also been claimed that the birds have been spotted stealing food from inside people's mouths as they walked around the incredible city.
Other strategies have also been put forward by visitors.
Claudio Scarpa, president of the Venice hoteliers’ association, thinks that birds of prey could be the answer.
“We could introduce a falcon-sharing system between hotels with one falconer sending a falcon to cover different terraces,” he said.
