Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
The world’s most beautiful city has never been more threatened. But a passionate movement of locals is determined to keep it alive.
Groaning under the weight of 30 million annual visitors, this most beautiful of places is suffering a degree of pressure that risks pushing it to extinction as a real city.
It’s not just the quantity of visitors that poses a problem for Venice, it’s the quality of what they deliver in concrete benefits to the city. Many visitors today are what Giovanni di Giorgio calls “smash and grab tourists.” They flood the city for a few hours and then leave, having bought little more than soft drinks and the odd souvenir…
Read Full Article; City Lab (02-10-2017)
Italy’s cruise numbers expected to drop in 2017; Seatrade (03-15-2017)
After two years of growth and stability, 2017 will see a figure well below 11 million. Traffic will fall at more than half of Italy’s top 10 ports, and in some cases the drop will be significant. After losing its third place in the Mediterranean’s top 10, Venice could drop from fourth to fifth position.
Venetians try to block cruise ships; BBC News Video (09-26-2016)
UN threatens to place Venice on endangered list unless Italy bans cruise ships; The Telegraph (07-15-2016)
Venice will be placed on Unesco’s list of endangered heritage sites if Italy fails to ban giant cruise ships from the city’s lagoon by 2017, the United Nations has warned.The world heritage committee has expressed “extreme concern” about the deteriorating state of the lagoon and approved a resolution demanding that Venice moves towards the “prohibition of the largest ships and tankers” by February 2017…
How Italy stopped Venice being put on Unesco’s Heritage In Danger list, for now; The Art Newspaper (08-31-2016)
Unesco’s World Heritage Site Committee meeting in Istanbul in July 2016, voted not to put Venice on its list of World Heritage in Danger sites, but instead to postpone the decision until the 2017 meeting, scheduled 2-12 July 2017.
As Tourists Crowd Out Locals, Venice Faces ‘Endangered’ List; NPR (11-25-2016)
The main reason the U.N. cultural organization didn’t vote to declare Venice a World Heritage Site in Danger at last Unesco’s World Heritage Site Committee meeting in Istanbul in July 2016, is because UNESCO has become “intensely politicized. There would have been some back-room negotiations…”
Venice Will Not Be On UNESCO Endangered List; Italy Travel (10-06-2016)
Venice Is Fed Up With Cruise Ships And Angry Protesters Are Blocking Them; Forbes (09-29-2016)
World famous for its canals and gondolas, Venice is a major destination for Mediterranean cruises. More than 600 big ships pass through the Giudecca Canal each year, ferrying millions of passengers…
Can We Save Venice Before It’s Too Late?(08-29-2016)
Monster Cruise Ships in Venice: An Art Exhibit Censored; Italy; (08-25-2015)
The world acclaimed italian photographer Gianni Berengo’s artwork was about to be featured this Fall at the Palazzo Duccale in Venice. The exhibition titled “Mostri a Venezia”- Monsters in Venice, was to present 27 photographs depicting how giant-sized cruise ships have taken over the famed italian city. But in a surprising last minute decision, Venice’s Mayor cancelled the exhibit…
Princess Cruises Hit With Largest-Ever Criminal Penalty For ‘Deliberate Pollution’; NPR (12-01-2016)
The California-based cruise operator, Princess Cruise Lines, will pay a $40 million fine for “deliberate pollution of the seas and intentional acts to cover it up,” according to the Department of Justice, which calls it “the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution.”..
