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POLLUTION

Motorboats go silent on Venice’s Grand Canal

Venice on Sunday enjoyed the sounds of silence as authorities imposed a five-hour ban on motorboats plying the Renaissance city's main waterway to raise awareness about noise pollution and architectural damage caused by waves.

Published: 14 April 2013 17:00 CEST
Motorboats go silent on Venice's Grand Canal
Motorboats such as this one were banned from Venice's canals on Sunday. Photo: Eoghan OLionnain

Boat traffic on the Grand Canal in the world-famous lagoon came to a standstill from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, with only public transport and electric-powered or hybrid vessels allowed to cut through the waters.

"This day demonstrates the commitment of local authorities in the fight against the pollution and the backwash caused by boats," said local councillor Ugo Bergamo.

The city offered free gondola rides to those wanting to cross the canal during the ban.

Venice, whose resident population is just 58,000, is a major tourist attraction, receiving around 20 million visitors a year.

The facades of its Renaissance buildings are under constant threat from the waves caused by boats — whose speed is strictly limited — as well as from rising water levels caused by global warming.

The city, which rests on wooden piles driven into boggy ground, has been steadily sinking for centuries.

Planning official Pierfrancesco Ghetti said he hoped Venice would increasingly be considered a "smart city" for its use of anti-pollution technologies.

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VENICE

Italy to pay €57m compensation over Venice cruise ship ban

The Italian government announced on Friday it would pay 57.5 million euros in compensation to cruise companies affected by the decision to ban large ships from Venice's fragile lagoon.

Published: 3 December 2021 17:41 CET
A cruise ship in St Mark's Basin, Venice.
The decision to limit cruise ship access to the Venice lagoon has come at a cost. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The new rules, which took effect in August, followed years of warnings that the giant floating hotels risked causing irreparable damage to the lagoon city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

READ ALSO: Venice bans large cruise ships from centre after Unesco threat of ‘endangered’ status

Some 30 million euros has been allocated for 2021 for shipping companies who incurred costs in “rescheduling routes and refunding passengers who cancelled trips”, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement.

A further 27.5 million euros – five million this year and the rest in 2022 – was allocated for the terminal operator and related companies, it said.

The decision to ban large cruise ships from the centre of Venice in July came just days before a meeting of the UN’s cultural organisation Unesco, which had proposed adding Venice to a list of endangered heritage sites over inaction on cruise ships.

READ ALSO: Is Venice really banning cruise ships from its lagoon?

Under the government’s plan, cruise ships will not be banned from Venice altogether but the biggest vessels will no longer be able to pass through St Mark’s Basin, St Mark’s Canal or the Giudecca Canal. Instead, they’ll be diverted to the industrial port at Marghera.

But critics of the plan point out that Marghera – which is on the mainland, as opposed to the passenger terminal located in the islands – is still within the Venice lagoon.

Some aspects of the plan remain unclear, as infrastructure at Marghera is still being built. Meanwhile, smaller cruise liners are still allowed through St Mark’s and the Giudecca canals.

Cruise ships provide a huge economic boost to Venice, but activists and residents say the ships contribute to problems caused by ‘overtourism’ and cause large waves that undermine the city’s foundations and harm the fragile ecosystem of its lagoon.

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