Venice, the city of wonders, surrounded by water, majestic churches and incredible art pieces is probably the most unique city in the world. With its cathedrals and byzantine influenced art this unique Italian city is world-know for its art and for the gorgeous annual carnival that attracts tourists and celebrities from all over the world. The city in itself is a historical and artistic patrimony for the entire world. Annual floods and earth subsidence are become a serious threat to the marvelous Venice.
The traditional date for the foundation of Venice is A.D. 421, yet there is no official authentic historical proof for this birth date. The birth of this astonishing city is a consequence of the fall of the Western Roman Empire caused by northern invasions. While Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Empire, Rome was the centre city of the Western Empire. Initially, the lagoon islands were considered a temporary place of refuge away from the Huns or Goths invasions. The Lombard invasion in 568, contributed to transform the water city from a temporary asylum to an actual city of permanent residence. Initially, the island of Venice was composed of “low mudbanks, barely rising above the sea” (Source: http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/venice2.shtml). The lands were disastrous for agriculture, and fishing was the only direct source on alimentation. Despite this inconvenient, the seaport of Venice had an extremely important strategic position for commerce and the Eastern Trade. Soon enough, the local people saw the potential of this strategic geographical location and they started to protect their sea-borne trade at all costs. Gradually, “the formation of the canals started with the de-sitting of waterways in the delta to allow vessels to pass,” (Source: http://touritaly.org/tours/venice/venice01.htm) and Venice became an European Commercial and political superpower. After a set of different invasions and influences, this city remained under Austrian rule until the end of the 19th century. After a war against Austria, Venice was finally united to the kingdom of Italia.
For the Venetian people, water has been a precious gift but also a sort of curse who regularly threatens the long-term survival of this beautiful city. Since the 13th century the city has sporadically been taken away by disastrous floods. We have all seen on recent photographs in the newspapers, people with rubber boots, and water up to their knees in St Mark Square. The acqua alta ( is a combination of seasonal tides and particular weather conditions. The lagoon is connected with the Adriatic sea, and therefore the lagoon basin experiences two high tides and two low tides every day” (Source: http://www.veniceguideandboat.it/venicehistory.htm#BEFOREVENICE). Global warming is responsible for the melting of the polar ice caps that are consequently raising the water level of the oceans. The rising sea levels are a global concern for the world’s environment and a direct threat to the high tides that often cause flooding in front of the St. Marco’s Basilica.
Global warming and the rising level of the sea is not the only environmental problem facing Venice, also called “La Serenissima” (in reference to its title in Venetian, the Most Serene Republic) . Earth subsidence is a threat to the city that is slowly sinking. Venice “was built upon low lying salt marsh islands” that are slowly crumbling and causing the city to sink. Every century the land would sink only by a few centimeters, yet in the past decades local industries have accelerate the situation. In the 1950s, mainland industries started to extract fresh water from artesian wells, without realizing that the majority of the fresh water lay below the city of Venice. The city began to sink at alarming rates when the water began to be extracted in large amounts. This water extraction procedure was put on hold in order to preserve the majestic city of marble.
In order to contain the situation and save the future of Venice, a long-term plan called the MOSE project has been planned and put together. This initiative to be completed in 2012, wants to create custom-made barriers at the Venice lagoon-entrance. “These barriers are designed to rest on the sea floor until Venice is threatened by an acqua alta event”(Source: http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/veneto/sinking-venice.asp). The MOSE project presents many problematics from an environmental and budgetary point of view. After the passing of decades the project still remains unfinished while environmental groups presents the concerns about the threat to the ecosystem of the lagoon.
This city has managed to survive through the ups and downs of climate change, wars and industrialization. The cultural baggage hidden in every church or marble architectural piece needs to be safeguarded and protected. Funding needs to be found and a long-term sustainable project that is perhaps more updated than MOSE needs to be put together and launched as soon as possible.
(More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/waterwideweborg/)
