Campaign For A Living Venice

The Commission returns for another inspection, and a 300-page dossier is delivered by the Municipality. Associations and committees invoke the “blacklist” to make the world understand the state of degradation and fragility of the city

by Vera Mantengoli

November 1, 2024

The Commission returns for another inspection, and a 300-page dossier is delivered by the Municipality. Associations and committees invoke the “blacklist” to make the world understand the state of degradation and fragility of the city

They arrived in Venice yesterday for the third mission, after those of 2015 and 2020, to evaluate if the city is “improving” or if it is still at risk of ending up on the UNESCO blacklist (officially the Endangered Sites list). The commissioners from the UN agency that deals with World Heritage sites were once again met with great expectations and a very busy schedule: a long meeting with the Municipality on Monday, a visit to MOSE on Tuesday, then inspections and appointments and finally, a meeting with associations and categories. The director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Lazare Eloundou Assomo, accompanied by Regina Durighello and Aruna Francesca Maria Gujral of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites, an NGO linked to UNESCO) will have to verify the status of the commitments made by the Municipality of Venice to avoid losing the recognition obtained in 1987. The visit is part of the agreements made in Riyadh in 2023 when, on the occasion of the 45th assembly of the World Heritage Commission, the city was threatened with being downgraded for the second time. The material collected during this visit will be taken to New Delhi next year, where Venice will be promoted or failed.

Problems and Responses

The problems on the table were and are above all depopulation, wave motion, urban impact, large ships, MOSE and the protection of the Lagoon from climate change. The commissioners stayed at Ca’ Farsetti all day, taking part in a long closed-door meeting with Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, his staff and Andrea Bartotelli, head of the UNESCO and international cultural organizations office of Farnesina. In recent days the administration delivered a package of over 300 pages to the commissioners with a feasibility study on eleven planned projects, along with the last two resolutions on the access ticket and the regulation of tourist rentals. The Mayor recalled the first meeting with UNESCO, which took place soon after he took office in 2015, after almost a year of his administration. Brugnaro explained what has changed in these nine years: MOSE now works; his council introduced a block on new hotels, public establishments and tourist souvenir shops; the market areas have been revised, leaving more space for walking; the Lagoon Authority was created; the debt was reduced from 799 to 691 million; the destruction caused by the Acqua Granda of November 12, 2019 was rebuilt for 100 million euros; cruise ships no longer pass in front of San Marco; the access ticket was tested; the SISA system for controlling waves from motorboats was prepared; the cracking at Petrolchimico and the coal cycle of the ENEL power plant were closed and the green transformation of vehicles with electric and hydrogen buses and hybrid vaporettos began.

MOSE and Ministries

The commissioners conducted an in-person visit to MOSE to understand how it works and then heard from various ministries (Culture, Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs), the Venice World Capital of Sustainability Foundation, the Venice Biennale, the Superintendency, the University and the Region. The President of the Region Luca Zaia also welcomed them: “I am certain that a good job will be done that takes into account the global uniqueness of Venice and its Lagoon, its material and immaterial heritage, the need for serious constraints to prevent it from being condemned to being a museum city”.

Committees and Associations: the blacklist would be better

At a separate meeting, 23 associations, committees and municipal opposition parties presented their version of the state of the city to the UNESCO commissioners, a view that is much different from that of the Municipality: Italia Nostra, Ambiente Venezia, No Grandi Navi, Tutta la Città Insieme, FAI and others are asking that Venice be put on the blacklist in order to force the world to realize that the city is increasingly in a state of degradation and that it is urgent to save it. Some of the contested projects are in fact included in the document delivered by the Municipality and were analyzed by the companies Terre, Sintesi and KL Cultural Heritage. The height of several projects has been challenged several times (for example the towers on Viale San Marco and the Mestre station), the overall size of others (for example of the Bosco dello Sport) and their impact on the skyline. Other problems that were discussed were the entry ticket, the temporary docking for cruise ships in Marghera (which seems to be becoming permanent), the lack of housing, moto ondoso (waves from motorboats), the planned incinerator in Fusina, the hotels on Tronchetto, the transformation of Mestre and the excavations in the Lagoon, as well as the poor air quality in Venice and surrounding areas.

Source: Corriere del Veneto