The residents of Venice and environmentalists at large were overjoyed Tuesday when the Italian government, led by Prime Minister Mario Draghi, announced that all cruise ships would be banned on Aug. 1 from entering Venice’s storied San Marco basin, the San Marco canal and the Giudecca canal.
For years, Venetians demanded the restrictions due to pressing concerns over air and water pollution, and because the mammoth ships would eliminate street level views of the historic city.
You may remember similar headlines about the cruise ship decision in April, but at that time, the ban was toothless as it was contingent upon the construction of a port that will take years to build.
Draghi, facing mounting protests and international media attention, buckled and declared that the real ban would go into effect regardless of the port next month.
The New York Times reports:
The government had drafted the urgent decree to avoid “the real risk of the city being put on the blacklist of “World Heritage in Danger” sites established by UNESCO, the United Nations culture body.
In 2019, UNESCO warned Venice about the “damage caused by a steady stream of cruise ships.” Before a UNESCO World Heritage Committee beginning later this week that could have seen Venice added to the blacklist, the Italian government approved the decree making Venice’s waterways a national monument, a status usually given to artworks and historical buildings that puts the lagoon under enhanced state protection.
In the years ahead the city is seeking to restore a once-diverse economy that was consumed by decades of over-tourism and dogged by flooding (known as acqua alta).
The good news is: the city recently finished a decades-long construction project, which consisted of the installation of floodgates at the entrances to the lagoon.
The MOSE Floodgates will ease the acqua alta, the cruise ship ban will mitigate the eyesores and tourism flow, and the city will press on as it continues to rethink its future.
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