Ever since I started college, I knew I wanted to study abroad eventually. Last summer came so quickly that I didn’t have time to save up for summer tuition, plane tickets, and more. While planning out the classes I would need to take to graduate on time, I realized studying abroad would be extremely difficult. I would need to complete research and classes on campus in the summer of 2025 and research off-campus in the summer of 2026 to meet my program’s requirements. I was sad I would never be able to experience the thrill of studying abroad.
This changed when I found out about HI 343- Topics in Urban History: Venice. The class would discuss the history of Venice, the impact of tourism on the city, and how sustainability ties into these topics. I was intrigued and attended an information night regarding the class. After the meeting, I knew I wanted to register for the class. Not only for its study abroad component (that would only be one week) but for the knowledge it could provide me.
The thing many people don’t realize is, that Venice is in trouble.
Venice is composed of many islands that form the city. When it was first founded, these islands formed individual cities. As time progressed, they transformed into the city loved today. With this transformation came industrialization, which led to Venice’s growth, and eventually the city became a coveted tourist destination. People come from all over the world to experience the floating city and all it offers. From gondola rides down the canals to churches full of artwork, the city has something for everyone.
To allow for this industrialization, Venice had to transform the ecosystem of the lagoon entirely. This caused great harm to the ecosystem. Another factor that contributed to this harm was the destruction of salt marches and barrier islands, which protect the lagoon in times of “acqua alta” (high levels of water). This destruction continues now, as many boats pass through the lagoon and cause erosion. Meanwhile, with more extreme weather occurring each year, acqua alta events occur with increasing frequency.
One of the most recent extreme acqua alta events was in 2019, where many iconic parts of the city were underwater for long periods of time. Citizens and tourists were trapped in a flooded city with little ways to escape. Many businesses and homes were destroyed. The event was catastrophic, and was one of the reason MOSE was put in place. MOSE is essentially a set of yellow barriers. Each barrier measures the size of two tennis courts placed side by side. There are many of these yellow barriers that stay underwater until a button is pressed in the control room to raise them.
It seems like a good idea, to protect Venice from floods, and the barriers often work. Each time the barriers are raised, it costs around 200,000 euros to operate, so it is not a permanent solution. Even worse, the barriers can not always be raised when acqua alta events occur. This could be for a variety of reasons, depending on the severity of the event and whether the system is functioning. As of October 2024, they have been “raised 100 times alone since they were first installed in 2020” (https://iamnotmakingthisup.net/category/venetian-environmental-issues/mose/).
MOSE can not be a permanent solution to the flooding problem. Besides its high operation cost, the barriers also destroy the lagoon if they are left up too long. They also cause harm to the people living and visiting Venice, as the normal flow of the lagoon is necessary to maintain the city’s sewage system.
The only option? Work with nature to restore the barrier islands and the salt marshes instead of investing billions of euros into a temporary solution for a permanent problem.