Venice: Gravity Sucks

Venice is sinking...fast. Only a couple hundred years ago these moss covered steps were above the high tide mark. Now they're only explosed during low tide.

The city is built in a salt marsh that has received river silt for thousands of years. This Alpine silt, thousands of feet deep, is consolidating at an impressive rate and it's taking Venice with it. Two hundred years ago--before Venice was a 'living museum' (tourist trap)--the solution to the problem of sinking was simple: add another layer of floor stones or, worst case, build another floor level. Your attic becomes your living room and life goes on. Not the best idea anymore, since people fly across the world specifically to see the old original stones.

Plans have been made to build special dams that will allow the tide to flow in and out of the lagoon while keeping all but the highest floodwater out. Construction has not begun, of course, because the Italian government beheads itself on a regular basis and you can bet every politician has his own solution to this hot button issue.

Some professionals are strongly opposed to these dams and other artificial solutions because they believe the lagoon water will not drain properly, turning the lagoon into a giant sewage reservoir. Furthermore, the city will continue sinking, going below the low tide mark in the not so distant future. What then?

My advice: visit Venice now, not later.