The complexity of safeguarding

The foundations on which Venice is built have coexisted with the waters for a thousand years. Its history is marked by the low and high tides which flow in and out of the lagoon twice a day creating two high and two low levels. This phenomenon is caused by two factors: the astronomic tide linked to the movement of celestial bodies and the weather due to the state of the atmosphere. On the 4th November 1966 a natural catastrophe, caused by an extensive deep depression in the Atlantic Ocean hit Italy, with strong sirocco winds over the Adriatic Sea, the news broadcasted was as follows:

4th November 1966

This footage was taken in the heart of Venice where the damage is incalculable. 4 metre high waves in Murano. For the second time in a thousand years, Malamocco has been entirely submerged by water. Restoration works are being carried out everywhere to replace the protective banks, above all in Pellestrina and in S.Pietro in Volta, where the heavy seas destroyed the historic Serenissima embankments and protective dams. 3.000 people were evacuated from Pellestrina.