The romantic Italian capital, Venice, will ban loudspeakers and tourist groups of more than 25 people, in a bid to ease the impact of mass tourism on the Italian city.

The new rules will come into effect in June.

The use of loudspeakers has also been banned as they can "generate confusion and disturbances", it added.

In September, Venice approved the trial of a €5 (£4.30; $5.35) fee for daily visitors.

Elisabetta Pesce, the official with responsibility for the city's security, told the BBC the latest policies are "aimed at improving the management of groups organised in the historic centre".

The city is just 7.6 sq km (2.7 sq miles) in size but it hosted almost 13 million tourists in 2019, according to the Italian National Statistics Institute. Numbers of visitors are expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels in the coming years.

More and more residents in Venice are choosing to leave over fears that tourists could overrun the historic island city.

Citizen associations in Venice launched studies in April to monitor how many beds are available for both tourists and residents in the city.

According to the most recent update from one of them, Ocio, the number of beds for tourists has risen to more than 50,000 - exceeding those available to locals.

In July, experts from Unesco said the city should be added to a list of world heritage sites in danger, as the impact of climate change and mass tourism threatens to cause irreversible changes to it.

"lack of strategic vision"

The UN cultural body's experts blamed the Italian authorities for a "lack of strategic vision" to solve the problems faced by one of Italy's most picturesque cities.

Ultimately, Unesco did not add Venice to the list. Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said Unesco had recognised attempts to address the island's problems via an anti-flooding system and by the approval of the entry fee for tourists.

In 2021, large cruise ships were banned from entering the historic centre of Venice via the Giudecca canal after a ship crashed into a harbour.

Critics had also argued that the ships were causing pollution and eroding the foundations of the city, which suffers from regular flooding.