Italian big business and – probably – corrupt politicians wish to dig a canal in the lagoon at Venice, enabling gargantuan cruise-ships to hover over the skyline of the medieval city

Venice is a small and very precious city with a population of no more than 57.000 people in the inner city. Nevertheless, each day 80.000 visit the city. In 2013 more than 60% of these people spilled off the large cruise-ships, of which more than a 1000 visited the city that year. In September 2013, 26 ships entered the Lagoon inside one week in September.

Now, the tourism industry in Italy wishes to dig a deep canal through the lagoon in order to enable gargantuan ships of twice the size of the Titanic to be able to stand on the ancient quays of the medieval merchants.

No wonder, the Italian campaigner Avazz.it got more than 50.000 signatures inside a few days; at the time of writing this article it has risen to 113.781. This initiative was presented to the Italian president, Matteo Renzi when he visited the city a few days ago. The petition is still open.

The Italian government is obviously under pressure from the cruise lobby to give the green light to the construction. However, the dredging of the channel has been emphatically criticised by the Italian Centre for Protection and Environmental Research. According to a survey carried out by the Institute, the ecological balance of the Lagoon is bound to be seriously compromised, if the plans are carried through. The scientific community is unanimous in its opinion that the lagoon, the only thing that defends Venice from the fury of the sea, simply will not exist if the project is approved. Another challenge is the well-known fact that tourists, who arrive on cruise-ships, seldom leave their “comfort-zone” for long. At the most, they take a short ride on a Vaporetto and grab at sandwich at a bar in St. Marco’s square. As a consequence, hotels and restaurants have been suffering for years.

It is hoped that the current initiatives of the Italian government to curtail corruption will help to stop the project. As late as in March the Italian transport Minister had to resign in the wake of the arrests of four people as part of a continuing investigations over corruption in connection with public contracts. A year ago the Mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, had to step down when he and 34 other Venetian officials were arrested in connection with a wider investigation into alleged corruption over the new flood barriers.

According to Avaaz, two alternative plans for hosting such large ships have been suggested.

The lagoon as well as Venice is protected as World Heritage. In 2012 a detailed protection plan was agreed upon between UNESCO, Citta’ di Venezia, UNESCO Veneto and other stakeholders in the region. A keyword in this plan is of course sustainability and the management of tourism flows. Other nice initiatives planned are routes for cyclists, encouragement of tourists to visit the periphery of Venice etc.

Since then the number of cruise ships entering the lagoon has quadrupled!

SIGN THE PETITION!