This time, it’s really happening. Open Jaw has reported this many times before, but now it seems large cruise ships are finally, really being banned from waterways in the heart of Venice.
After several unenforced attempts to limit traffic to Italy’s lagoon city, the government has now declared that - effective 01AUG - large cruise ships will not be permitted into the lagoon basin at St. Mark’s Square, nor into the major Giudecca Canal.
Since cruising resumed in Venice, thousands of residents of the area with concerns about the impact of mega ships on the historic architecture and the environment have been protesting big ships passing through the canal city. Protesters have been demanding that authorities enforce cruise bans they had previously put in place.
But it apparently took an ultimatum from UNESCO to get decisive action from the Italian government.
UNESCO designation is intended to provide the city with added protection for future generations. The UN culture agency issued an ultimatum requiring cruise ship traffic to stop or the city would be placed on the agency’s ‘blacklist’ of sites with "world heritage in danger" when it meets later this week in Beijing.
To avoid that outcome, Italy’s cabinet this week established "an unbreakable principle, by declaring the urban waterways of St. Mark's Basin, St. Mark's Canal and the Giudecca Canal a national monument," and banned ships weighing more than 22,600 tonnes or longer than 180 metres, or with any polluting or other damaging characteristics from the city.
Venice’s economy and most businesses rely on tourism. At the same time, cruise ships have been accused of unloading thousands of pax into the city all at once, contributing to overcrowding.
Only large ships are affected by the new ban. Venice will continue to permit very small ships - of around the 200 pax size - to enter the city.
Until new, permanent cruise ship facilities are established, larger ships are being redirected to the distinctly unscenic, industrial port of Marghera nearby.
