Will the salt marshes of the lagoons save Venice in the end?
The lagoon represents the beginning of Venice and gives hope for a good end for Venice. For all those who love Venice.
With Dr. Eberlein in a mink through Venice
In her history class, she spoke of La Serenissima with such love and enthusiasm that we wanted to experience Venice with her.
The class of girls who set out for the lagoon city many years ago with their teacher by bus and train were initially stranded at the Venice train station.
The November fog was too thick – the trips of the ship buses had been suspended.
When the fog lifted after an hour and a half and the vaporetto took us to the hostel on Giudecca Island, it was love at first sight.
Along the Grand Canal, past the palaces where, on the dark November evening, promisingly dim light shimmered on the upper floors.
“To Venice you travel in November”.
we had learned this from Dr. Eberlein and understood it immediately. This month the city has a special magic.
It was wet and cold, and the heavy mink coat that Dr. Eberlein wore to arm herself against the cold was still politically correct in those times. Only on the last evening she revealed to us that she had sewn in the hem the lira bills for our stay.
The lagoon we tried to protect with our pocket money
The lagoon is the origin of Venice. There, in 421, the first settlers sought protection from warlike Huns. It is also an important ecosystem.
In the extensive salt marshes there is a great diversity of birds, fish, many other animals and plants. The lagoon protects the city from flooding.
Laguna B, a glass company in Venice that works to preserve this area, makes visible in this small video, the magnificence of this area.
The importance of the lagoon for Venice has long been known. Enthusiastic about the idea of preserving Venice, we donated our pocket money with great conviction as early as 8th grade to an initiative to save Venice from decay.
Venice celebrates 1600. Birthday
The flood control system, which has already cost billions of euros, is still unable to protect Venice effectively. The flood on November 19, 2019 was one of the worst floods Venice had seen to date. Not only St. Mark’s Square, large parts of the old town were under water.
2021, the year of the 1600. However, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Venice, there is hope that Venice could have not only a brilliant past but also a secure future.
Venice has never disappointed me
The first visit to Venice has awakened the love for this unique city. Whether private or professional, for birthdays and anniversaries, for corporate events and visits to the Biennale. Whenever possible, and preferably in November, I traveled to the city.
Venice has never disappointed me. The unique beauty was always reliably present. If you know your way around a bit and take side roads, you can avoid the tourist crowds at almost any point.
The food was always excellent, whether it was the pizza at the fountain, the snack from the little grocery store on the corner, or the Michelin starred restaurant.
The art of the Biennale and the private art collections in various palaces, the former customs office(Punta della Dogana) or in the classic, the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, was often exciting and always stunningly presented.
Unmissable like the cruise ships
On the last visit so far, before Corona, the dilemma could no longer be overlooked: The huge cruise ships that abruptly appeared on the horizon, landed in prominent places in the city, and released their ship guests to go ashore for exactly 1.5 hours.
Afterwards, the ship’s passengers stood in long lines in front of their ship again, right on time, so that they could have lunch there. The exact schedule for passengers was posted on the quay.
The argument that cruise tourists would stay longer in the city and spend more money sounds unlikely.
On St. Mark’s Square and on the paths along to the cruise ships there was no getting through. Everything shifted in a huge mixture.
Perhaps the respite Corona caused also helped a little to stop ignoring Venice’s problems.
“We are here Venice”
The initiative “We are here Venice” has been intelligently and creatively drawing attention to Venice’s problems for several years: The historic center of Venice has become unaffordable as a place to live for many Venetians, and at the same time residential buildings and former commercial buildings are falling into disrepair.
Whereas in 1951 175,000 inhabitants lived in the historic core of the city, in 2021 there will be only 50,000 inhabitants.
Apartments were converted into hotel rooms and apartments rented for short periods. Renting or buying an apartment is no longer feasible in terms of price for the majority of Venetians.
28 million tourists annually. Before Corona.
The extremely high dependence of the economy on tourism creates high unemployment in pandemic times. Before Corona, 28 million tourists visited Venice every year.
When one speaks of Venice, one usually means only the Città Storica. The majority of visitors visit only a few streets and squares in this area.
Cruise ships are causing substantial problems for the fragile city’s fabric, and although Venice is car-free, the city has the third worst air quality in Italy.
“We are here Venice” doesn’t make it easy like many who just hold up a sign that says “No tourists” or enthusiastically tweet movies of dolphins in Venice’s canals.
The initiative sees the complexity of the problem and tries to fight for the future of Venice with intelligent solutions.
CO2 not as an abstract commercial value, but real in the salt marshes
A collaborative study by Ca Foscari University with scientists from the Universities of Padua and Cambridge concluded that the plants of the salt marshes that surround Venice absorb comparatively more CO2 than trees.
This has reawakened the interest of the international press, which was already tired of reporting once again about Venice as a dying city where nothing changes.
At a time when CO2 is a political issue being discussed and negotiated everywhere, it sounds both comforting and hopeful that the salt marshes of the lagoon can make such a positive contribution to the environment and the future of Venice.
Jane da Mosto, one of the founders of We are here Venice, thus managed to get international attention.
Smarter than just a “No tourist” sign
Jane da Mosto and her fellow campaigners see the importance of visitors to their hometown and argue for visits that actually appreciate Venice and its culture.
A student who can live in the historic center may have a slim budget compared to a luxury cruise participant. But while the cruise tourist usually gives his money to the city only indirectly through the port fee, the student enriches the life of Venice in many ways.
The initiative is concerned with visitors who stay in the city for several days and who are also interested in keeping Venice as a place to live, work and do business. The unique city should not only serve as a picturesque backdrop for selfies.
It’s about working together, not against each other
Right now, the initiative is working to find partners in the city who will incorporate a donation offer for the salt marshes into their offerings for visitors.
Similar to what is already the case with some airlines, where money can be donated to the reforestation of the Amazon, the next Bellini at Harry’s Bar, for example, could offer the option of making a donation towards the preservation of Venice’s salt marshes when paying. A good idea.
Art, too, according to the initiative, in many cases uses the city of Venice without having a real interest in Venice.
“How was it for you”
With this call, the initiative addresses future curators and art experts with “unasked-for hints” and tries to sensitize them to the fact that in the future, more will be required than flying in to Venice, curating an installation, and then disappearing again on the next plane after the premiere celebration.
A dialogue and togetherness is required. The art world and the inhabitants of Venice – these are indeed two worlds that meet almost only when transporting luggage and at the espresso bar.
If you know the art circus, reading this intelligent and at the same time humorous publication, you will recognize much that you have felt for years.
But “Venice we are here” is also refreshingly undogmatic when addressing the art scene. Art is free and you don’t want to impose a possibly artificial bridge to Venice on every art contribution.
The bridges that are being built are slowly being accepted and there are thoughts about how to connect places like the Arsenale and the Giardini with more life for and with the people of Venice, even in the periods between the biennials. Something is moving.
The pandemic as an opportunity for Venice
The “Venice we are here” initiative sees the pandemic’s breathing space as an opportunity to bring more attention to a number of policy initiatives, such as making housing more affordable again for Venetians, restoring vacant and decaying buildings and filling them with real life.
The need to create jobs outside the tourism industry is seen as a pivotal point.
An important transformation process in which Venice could actually have the best chances, should it succeed in convincing the regional government and Rome.
“Venice we are here” does not see the future of the old town in an exclusively high-priced exclusive area with steep entrance fees. That’s what makes “Venice we are here” so likeable and worthy of support.
There is only one point where a clear red line is drawn: cruise ships are no longer welcome in Venice.
The ecosystem and building fabric of this globally unique city is too fragile, which is precisely why it is the highlight of many cruises through the Mediterranean.
In 2019, 546 cruise ships docked in Venice
In 2020, there were 6 ships.
In 2021, finally, a small step: cruise ships longer than 180 meters or with particularly high emissions will no longer be allowed to enter the main channel in the center of the city. However, they still reach the fragile ecosystem of the lagoon.
For some time, alternative routes for cruise ships around Venice and a port for cruise ships in the industrial area of Maghera have been discussed. The industrial port there, important for the petroleum and chemical industries, is resisting.
Fears are too great that the cruise industry will gain the upper hand and that the last industrial jobs will also have to make way.
Trieste as an alternative port or a completely new island in the Mediterranean to be built, where the cruise tourists will land and from there be transported to the city, are under discussion.
The consequences are easy to understand: One can literally see the armada of boats in front of one’s eyes, onto which 4000 – 5000 passengers of a large cruise ship are distributed to jet to St. Mark’s Square and back.
Two hours in Venice are of no use to anyone
Even though we certainly see the cruise industry’s efforts to be more environmentally friendly, such as alternative propulsion systems and shore charging stations powered by renewable energy sources.
We share Jane da Mosto’s opinion: Venice and cruise tourism are incompatible.
Two hours in completely crowded squares in Venice is no treat. Any three-D animation and even the replicas of Venice in Las Vegas and other places offer a better experience in this case.
If the historical part of Venice is to be used only as a backdrop for a tourism show, then the backdrop can be replicated elsewhere right away.
Lovers are always optimistic. In this case, we believe that thanks to the breathing space of the pandemic, Venice has a chance to survive and Death in Venice will remain a book worth reading, a movie worth seeing and a good opera, but will not become a reality.
Photographs © GloriousMe
