The Sea Comes to the Piazza

How much longer will we have the beautiful, magical city of Venice?

My son and I were hit with that question at 10:30 p.m. one night when we wandered, unprepared into inches of the Adriatic Sea in San Marco Square — we hadn’t thought to check the high tide schedule.

The sea level relative to Venice ground level has been rising for over a century. Until 50 years ago, the major cause was the sinking city, due to the withdrawal of ground water. Local regulations ended most of that in the 1970s, but the relative sea level continued to rise, and then rise faster, due the growing issue of climate change. The massive, $6 billion “Mose” system of floodgates at the major water inlets helps control the flooding and buy the city time, but it has its limits.

References:

• Venice tide forecast & updates
• Mose system of floodgates
• Meta-review research on Venice flooding and sea level
• European Commission on fighting climate change dis-information