Cruise liners are banned from Venice, but a new port could take years to build!

When cruise ships are once again allowed passage to Venice, they’ll avoid the UNESCO-protected centre of the city, but until new dock infrastructure is built, mega-vessels will still enter the ecologically fragile Venetian Lagoon.

… stop the movement of perilously large vessels within the waterway…. a shallow enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea…

… Pollution, both environmental and visual… behind the long-awaited ban…

The Architect’s Newspaper writes:

Those daydreaming of post-COVID international travel plans that involve arriving in Venice via one of the most dramatic—and problematic—ways possible, cruise ship, will have to rethink those plans. Last week the Italian government enacted a ban on the large floating hotels from entering the historic center of the Italian city by way of its namesake lagoon.

In addition to cruise ships over 40,000 tons, cargo ships are now also verboten from entering the Venetian Lagoon following a years-long effort by local heritage and environmental campaigners and international conservation organizations including UNESCO to stop the movement of perilously large vessels within the waterway, which is technically a shallow enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea. The ‘main’ island of Venice is the largest island within the lagoon although the city itself is comprised of hundreds of islands including Murano, Burano, and Torcello.

Pollution, both environmental and visual, is the primary driver behind the long-awaited ban. As noted by The Art Newspaper, UNESCO had even considered adding Venice, a major World Heritage Site, to its World Heritage Sites in Danger list due to the detrimental impacts (flooding, public safety threats, damaged marine ecosystems, and on) of cruise liners traveling along the Giudecca Canal, one of Venice’s major canals, to and from the vulnerable historic core of the city…

This temporary solution, however, is an imperfect one.

Although large vessels will circumvent the historic center of Venice and instead hug the mainland along the so-called Oil Canal once pandemic restrictions ease, the port of Marghera is still very much located within the Venetian Lagoon…

“It’s certainly a relief to hear the Italian government finally state its intention to keep large ships out of the lagoon as well as block them from coming close to Venice,” said Jane da Mosto of the nonprofit We Are Here Venice told the AP

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