> If they wanted people to stay there, they would have made the city livable, but given the amount of tourism, lack of transportation and very unique conditions, why would someone stay in venice?

I literally just got back from Venice. You can walk across the whole city in a little over 30 mins. What sort of transportation do you think you need here? There are boats, trains, cars to get into and out of the city, but once there, you can just walk anywhere.