Venice's self-styled 'guardian angels' are set to fly back into action to stop unsightly scenes spoiling the magic of St Mark's.
''They ran into some yobs last year but managed to handle it. This time round they'll be ready to tackle anything,'' said Augusto Salvadori, head of the city council's 'urban decorum' office.
Given the success of the initiative and the boost it gave to civic pride, the angels' ranks have swollen over the winter break to include ''people from all walks of life,'' he said.
The small army of unpaid 'sentinels' will ''show no hesitation in rapping tourists who fail to show Venice the respect it deserves,'' Salvadori said.
The recruits will restart patrolling St Mark's on Saturday, kitted out in a vest emblazoned with the city's lion mascot and the slogan ''Servizio per il rispetto della citta'' (''Service for respecting the city'').
Their mission is to prevent ''indecorous behaviour'' among tourists, which the city has decided includes sitting on the pavement, eating sandwiches there or going bare-chested.
''The council's battle for Venice's decorum is shared and supported by everyone,'' said Salvadori.
''It is a battle we will continue to fight, for our own dignity and in order to defend Venice's image. Sitting around criticizing is useless but taking action demonstrates a real love for Venice''.
The guardians are understanding with weary travellers wanting to rest their feet but implacable when T-shirts come off or improvised picnics began.
The volunteer army provides backup to seven female 'guardians of decorum' employed by the council to enforce rules on proper behaviour.
The women, who work for a municipal agency called Vesta, have already earned the nickname Vestali, the Italian word for the Vestal Virgins who looked after an important temple in ancient Rome.
The regular patrols are just part of Venice's strategy to ensure the city stays clean and maintains its charm despite the presence of 20 million visitors a year.
The city is also working on laws to stop the sale of fast food in the piazza so as to limit the amount of rubbish that accumulates there and which street cleaners can only remove once a day.
Even the vendors who sell tourists grain to feed the pigeons in St Mark's Square are being forced to move away so as to reduce the quantity of droppings which soil the piazza and erode its buildings.
In another move to keep Venice looking smart, administrators have cracked down on the street artists that flock to the lagoon city hoping to earn a few euros from well-heeled tourists.
