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UNESCO

Pisa tower offers app for the blind

An iPad app has been unveiled which will help blind people discover the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Published: 31 July 2013 17:06 CEST
Pisa tower offers app for the blind
The square was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 1987. Photo: Steve Carney/Flickr

The free Leaning TowerUp app was developed by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, the non-profit organization that manages the site.

A new version of the app has been adapted for use “by the expert hands of the visually impaired…but also by the possibly less expert hands of carers”, the organization said on iTunes.

While the site is famed for the leaning tower, the app also includes multimedia content on the cathedral, baptistery and cemetery.

The app is currently only available in Italian, although an English-language version is in the works.

The square which houses the monuments was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 1987.

The global cultural organization has praised the tower and its surroundings as “masterpieces of medieval architecture". 

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UNESCO

Venice may be put on Unesco endangered list if cruise ships not banned

The UN art heritage agency has said it may put Venice on its ‘endangered’ list if the lagoon city does not permanently ban cruise ships from docking there.

Published: 22 June 2021 12:53 CEST
Updated: 22 June 2021 17:27 CEST
Venice may be put on Unesco endangered list if cruise ships not banned
Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The Italian lagoon city, along with Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the city of Budapest, and Liverpool’s waterfront may be put on the list of “World Heritage in Danger,” meaning they risk being removed from Unesco’s prestigious list of world heritage sites completely.

Unesco said on Monday the issue will be discussed at a meeting of its World Heritage Committee, which oversees the coveted accolade, in Fuzhou, China, on July 16-31.

It “would be a very serious thing for our country” if Venice was removed, said Italy’s Culture Minister Dario Franceschini on Monday.

READ ALSO: ‘More local, more authentic’: How can Italy move toward responsible tourism in future?

The MSC Orchestra cruise ship arrives in Venice on June 3rd, 2021. Photo: ANDREA PATTARO/AFP

Participants at the China meeting will make the final decision on the deletion and warning proposals, and the agency could demand urgent action on cruise ships from the Italian government by next February.

There has long been concern about the impact of cruise ships on the city’s delicate structures and on the lagoon’s fragile ecosystem.

READ ALSO: Hundreds demonstrate against cruise ships’ return to Venice

The Italian government appeared to have passed a ban on cruise ships docking in Venice earlier this year – but the giant vessels continue to arrive in the city.

The government’s decree in fact did not constitute an immediate ban.

Instead, it said a plan for docking cruise ships outside Venice’s lagoon must be drawn up and implemented.

In the meantime, the ships will continue sailing through the lagoon and docking at the city’s industrial port, which has been the landing site for them since last December.

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