While the local population dwindles, passengers from giant cruise ships continue to flood into La Serenissima. So how are locals trying to save the city?A monster cruise ship meets a giant octopus and crashes into the Rialto bridge, provoking a tsunami. It´s an apocalyptic vision of Venice. The message of Stop the Madness, Philip Colbert´s pop-art-with-a-purpose at the current Venice Biennale, is echoed by Lorenzo Quinn´s Support, a large-scale installation of giant hands reaching out of the Grand Canal to prop up the crumbling Palazzo Sagredo.Venice´s mayor Luigi Brugnaro could also do with a helping hand. Under-populated and over-touristed, Venice is facing threats from all sides. Its status as a world heritage site is slowly sinking, with Unesco threatening to slap the city on its in-danger list, a fate normally reserved for war-ravaged ruins, under-funded third world sites and, er, Liverpool. Unesco´s concerns about cruise ships, mass tourism and damage to the fragile lagoon ecosystem `have been met with empty promises but no concrete proposals`, according to Italia Nostra, the country´s influential heritage body. Continue reading...
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