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88 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC' AUGUST ~009

For every resident Venetian, hundreds of visitors pour into the city each year to savor its gilded charms.
Most will take in this view across San Marco Basin. Many could find themselves in acqua alta-high water.
J

go NATIONAl,. GEOGRAPHIC' AUGUST 2009


The tide of tourism crests at carnival, when crowds cluster around and near the p;azzetta san Marco. There
are many other lovely places to linger. Mayor Massimo cacciari advises, "Throw the map away. Get 10st. R
91 NATIONAL GEOGIIAPIIiC • AUGUST 1009
Young people gather at a neighborhood bistro. Growing tourism forces many residents to leave. But Venetian
Emanuele Dal Carlo Insists. "There's still time to reclaim the city. Ours is the last generation that can."
By Cathy Newman • Photographs by Jodi Cobb

owhere in Italy, where calamity comes embellished with rococo

gestures and embroidered in exclamation points. is there a crisis

more beautifully framed than Venice. Neither land nor water, but

shimmering somewhere in between. the city lifts like a mirage from a lagoon at

the head of the Adriatic. For centuries it has threatened to vanish beneath the

waves of the acqua alta, relentlessly regular flooding caused by the complicity

of rising tides and sinking foundations. but that is the least of its problems.
Just ask Mayor Massimo Cacciari, broody, "Venice is such a lovely city, said the director
mercurial professor of philosophy, nuent in of a cultural foundation. From his window you
German, Latin, Ancient Greek; translator of could look across the San Marco Basin-with
Sophocles' Antigone; a man who raises the level its unending flotilla of speedboats, gondolas,
of political intellect to just short of the strato- and water-buses called vaporetti-and beyond
sphere. Ask about the acqua alta and Venice to the Piazza San Marco, epicenter of Venetian
sinking, and he says, ~So go get boots," Let them tourism. "Really. it is a huge theater. If you have
wear boots. the money, you can rent an apartment in a 171h-
Boots are fine for water, but useless against century palazzo with servants and pretend you
the flood that causes more hand-wringing are an aristocrat."
than any lagoon spillover: the flood of tourism. Please take your seats. In this play, Venice as-
lumber of Venetian residents in 2007: 60,000. sumes a dual role. There is Venice the city where
Number of visitors in 2007: 21 million. people live and Venice the city tourists visit.
In May 2008, for example, on a holiday week- Lighting, sets, and costumes are so beautiful the
end, 80,000 tourists descended on the city like heart aches, but the plot is full of confusion, the
locusts on the fields of Egypt. Public lots in ending uncertain. One thing is certain: Every-
Mestre, a mainland part of the municipality one is madly in love with the title character.
where people park and take the bus or train to
the historic center, filled and were closed. Those "BEAUTY IS DIFFICULT:' Mayor Cacciari said,
who managed to get to Venice surged through sounding as if he were addressing a graduate
the streets like schools of bluefish, snapping seminar in aesthetics rather than answering a
up pizza and gelato, leaving paper and plastic question about municipal policy. He quoted
bottles in their wake. Ezra Pound (the American poet, buried in
La Serenissima ("the most serene one"), as Venice) quoting Aubrey Beardsley's line to
Venice is known. is anything bul. The world William Butler Yeats. a kind of literary game of
steps into the exquisitely carved font of the telephone-but then indirection is as Venetian
city, guidebook in hand, fantasies packed along as the curves of the Grand Canal.
with toothbrush and sturdy shoes. Splash! Out Cacciari. whose reputation for arrogance
spill the Venetians. Tourism isn't the only rea- rivals his reputation for eloquence, seemed to
son for the accelerating exodus, but one ques- be in a mood as black as his hair and luxuriant
tion hovers like a haze: Who will be the last beard. (Not a streak of gray on his 63-year-old
Venetian left? head. ~Does he dye his hair?" I asked a press

94 NATIONAL GIIOGRAPHIC, AUGUST ~009


officer. "No. He is very proud of that," she an- million euros. If I preferred, there was an entire
swered.) The day before, a torrential downpour palazzo-the 6O,300-square~footPalazzo Nani,
had flooded Mestre. Rain caused the flood, not to be offered with a permit allowing its conver-
acqua alta, Cacciari said, sitting in his office. sion to another use. "It will probably become a
"MOSE (the flood barriers under construction; hotel," Scola said. When I asked for something
see page 1081 wouldn't have helped. High tide more affordable, I was taken the next day to
is not a problem for me. It's a problem for you see a 388-square-foot studio that would give a
foreigners." End of discussion on flooding. sardine claustrophobia, but it was only 260,000
No, he pressed, the problems lie elsewhere. euros. Someone would buy it as an investment
The cost of maintaining Venice: "There is not or pied-a-terre. BUI probably not a Venetian.
enough money from the state to cover it all-
the cleaning of canals, restoration of buildings, IF YOU ARE A VENETIAN, and not part of what
raising of foundations. Very expensive:' The cost Henry James called the "battered peep-show"
of living: "It's three times as costly to live here as oftouTist Venice, if you are a resident who lives
in Mogliano, 20 kilometers away. It's affordable in a fifth-floor walk-up apartment (elevators
only for the rich or elderly who already own are rare in Venice), someone who gets up, goes
houses because they have been passed down. to work, goes home, Venice is a different place
The young? They can't afford it." altogether. The abnormal is normal. A flood is
Finally, there is tourism. Of that, Cacciari the routine. The siren sounds, protective steel doors
philosopher said this: "Venice is not a sentimental come down. Boots, essential to any Venetian
place of honeymoon. It's a strong, contradictory, wardrobe, are pulled on. The two and a half
overpowering place. It is not a city for tourists. miles of passereffe-an elevated boardwalk sup-
It cannot be reduced to a postcard.- ported on metal legs-are set up. Life goes on.
Would you close it to tourists? I asked. Here, where everything anyone needs to live
"Y~s. I would close Venice-or perhaps, on and die must be floated in, wrestled over bridges.
reflection, a little entrance examination and a and muscled up stairs, time is measured by the
little fee." He looked bemused. breath of tides, and space bracketed by water.
Add the little fee to ridiculously high prices. The mathematics of distance, an accounting of
Tourists pay $10 to ride the vaporetto, $13 for footsteps and boat timetables, is instinctive to
a soft drink at Caffe Florian, $40 for a plastic every Venetian.
Carnival mask, probably made in China. When Silvia Zanon goes to Campo San
Or yOli can buy a palazzo. "Grand Canal Provolo, where she teaches middle school, she
is prime;' said Eugenio Scola as we sat in his knows it will take 23 minutes to walk there from
walnut-paneled real estate office overlooking her apartment all the Calle delle Carrozze. She
San Marco. He wore a beautifully tailored black leaves at 7:35 3.01. Memi, owner of a neighbor·
jacket, a crisp white cotton shirt, jeans with an hood trattoria, seated at a table reading the
alligator belt, and black loafers with the luster of newspaper, looks up and nods. The young man
polished calf. For years, buyers were Americans, collecting trash for the garbage barge mum-
British, and other Europeans, Scola explained. bles a greeting. She turns onto the Campiello
"But now we are seeing Russians. AJso Chinese." dei Marti and passes a wall draped with a white
Among his offerings was a three-bedroom climbing rose; a bridge, two squares, another
restored apartment on the piano nobile, or left in front of a former movie theater, now a
main floor, of a small 18th-cenlury palazzo, or trendy restaurant, and she proceeds on to the
palace. "Molto bello," Scola said, pulling out the
plans. There was a studio, library, music salon, Cathy Newmall is an editor at farge for the magazine.
two living rooms, a small room for the help, lodi Cobb has worked in moll' thall 50 coutltril!5. Her
and a fine view from three sides. Only nine storil!5for the magazine illclude -21st-Century Siaves.-

VANISHING VENICE 95
luscious decay is a constant. as is
maintenance. Repairing a foundation
Frezzeria. Ahead is the Correr Museum and damaged by flooding means draining
deaning ladies on hands and knees with buckets the canal, then clearing it of mud.
and brushes. She crosses the Piazza San Marco, To live in Venice is costly, but localS
blissfully empty in early morning. "I step on the like this couple at the Casino of
paving stones and fall in love with the city all Venice willingly pay the price.
over again;' she says. Another bridge, a brisk
walk across the Campo San Filippo e Giacomo, playa beam over facades of stucco and stone
and she arrives. It is exactly 7:58. until the cylinder of light picks out a roundel
Listen. Venice should be heard as well as seen. of carved stone. called a patera. depicting some
At night the eye is not distracted by the radiance fantastic beast that slithers, prowls, or flies. It is
of gilded domes. The ear can discern the slam of then, while the city sleeps and he is rapt in the
wood shutters, heels tapping up and down the contemplation of a touchstone of its past. that
stone steps of bridges, the abbreviated drama of he reclaims his Venice from the crowds that fill
whispered conversations, waves kicked against the streets. squares. and canals when it is day.
the seawall by boats, the staccato of rain on can- Gherardo Ortalli, a professor of medieval his-
vas awnings, and always, always, the heavy, sad tory. finds his path less poetic. MWhen I go out
sound of bells. Most of all, the sound of Venice in the campo with my friends, 1 have to stop
is the absence of the sound of cars. because someone is taking a photograph of us as
Often Franco Filippi, a bookstore owner if we are aboriginals," he says. ~Perhaps one day
and writer, cannot sleep. and so he gets up and we are. You go and see a sign on a cage. 'Feed the
threads his way through the maze of streets. Venetians: When I arrived 30 years ago, the pop-
flashlight in hand. stopping now and then to ulation was 120.000. Now it is less than 60.000,"

96 NATIONAl. GEOGRAPIIIC • AUGUST 1009


The decline seems inexorable. Last year alone, Love is not too strong a word-in fact, it
the resident population fell by 444. Ortalli is inadequate to describe how Salvadori feels
thinks Venice will end up as simply a theme park about Venice. He is not just the city's director
for the rich, who will jet in to spend a day or two of tourism and promoter of tradition; he is its
in their palazzo, then leave. It is 10 a.m., and he defender. IfSalvadori could command it, every
is headed toward a kiosk in the Campo Santa balcony would be draped with geraniums. (He
Margherita to buy a newspaper before going to distributed 3,000 plants with that in mind.)
his office, though you can hardly find the pa- Once, dining at a canalside restaurant, he leaned
pers for the jetsam and flotsam of tourist kitsch: over the table to reprimand a passing gondo-
miniature masks, gondola pins, felt jester caps. lier for singing "0 Sole Mia:' a Neapolitan, not
"Everything is for sale,n he sighs. "Even.Venice:' Venetian, song.
Meet the official charged with the solemn [n fall 2007 he dispatched a commando of
duty of managing the wear and tear of tourism. volunteers to spread the gospel of neatness in
His name is Augusto Salvadori, and his card the Piazza San Marco, to remind visitors to fol·
introduces him as low the commandments of good behavior: not
to eat, drink, or sit anywhere other than in des-
Dirutor ofTourism
Promotion ofVenict's Tradilion,
ignated areas. "We are fighting for the dignity
History. and Culture of Venice,n Salvadori says. In spring 2008, he
Prot«:tion ofthe Town's ProprIety announced decorum week; 72,000 plastic bags
and Cleanliness were distributed to residents so that they could
Prevention ofthe Wear Callsed by 1111" Waves dispose of dog poop. Useful, except that no one
Strut Signage provided extra trash cans for the used bags.

VA~ISIlING VENICE 97
Tronchllllo. an
8J1iflclal )slaod
made 01 dredglld
caoal mUd. ~rves
as a parking lot
tor uattle trom
tho maiolaod.

SACCA
SAN BIAGIO

,"
,i.
V\RG_ w .......".,~" SlAF.
SOURCE. crTY Of val",E; """...........; """"Nte'" ""NICE_TOURIS.. """""'.

"The city is consumed by tourism;' says Sal- come for a few euros?" He glares. "} cannot
vadori, seated in his office in the 16th-century be worried about hotels. I have to think of the
Palazzo Contarini Mocenigo. "What do Vene- Venetians. My battle is for the city. Because
tians get in exchange?" A frown as his brow Venice"-his voice softens, he touches his
plummets. "Services are strained. During part chest-"is my heart."
of the year Venetians cannot elbow their way Tourism has been part of the Venetian land-
onto public transportation. The cost of garbage scape since the 14th century, when pilgrims
collection increases; so does the price of living:' stopperl en route to the Holy Land. With the
Does it ever, particularly when it comes to resi~ Reformation of the 1500s, tourism lagged, but
dential property. A 1999 law that eased regula- regained momentum in the 17th century as
tions on the conversion of residential buildings upper-class Europeans, intent on acquiring the
to tourist accommodations exacerbated an fine sheen of cultural experience, embarked on
ongoing housing shortage. Meanwhile, the a "grand tour:'
number of hotels and guesthouses since 1999 $0, what's so different about tourism now? I
has increased by 600 percent. ask Ortalli, after he has settled into his office.
"Yes, there was the grand tour;' he replies. "But
"PERHAPS TO HELP;' Salvadori says, "we put then people were invested in hospitality. Now,
a city tax on hotels and restaurants. They say Venice gets giant cruise ships. The ship is tcn
tourists will not come-but I say, tourists won't stories high. You can't understand Venice from

100 NATtONAL GEOGRAPltlC' AUGUST Z009


ISOtA 01
SANMICHEU
tcITY CEMETERY)

PLACES TO S'rAY Of Venice's six districts. or seslieri, pajamas for the Duke of Windsor and sport
Cannaregio has the most residents, San Marco the most shirts for Ernest Hemingway. "It's like leaving
tourists. A 1999 law made it easier to convert residences
Into hotels and guesthouses. further diminishing the the house where you were born;' said Susanna
housing supply for locals. Cestari, who had worked there 32 years, pack-
ing boxes for the move.
In August 2007, Molin Giocattoli, a toy store
so popular an adjacent bridge was called the
Bridge of Toys, closed. Since December 2007,
ten hardware stores have gone out of business.
In the Rialto market, souvenir sellers have
Accommodations
established replaced vendors who sold sausages, bread, or
• Before 1999 vegetables. Tourists will not notice. They do not
• After 1999 visit Venice to buy an eggplant.
They do, however, come to get married. The
tourist machinery has incorporated weddings-
720 in 2007. Predictably, nonresidents who
married in Venice that year outnumbered resi-
dents by nearly three to one. Should you wish
to tie the knot, the marriage office of the City of
Venice will oblige for $2,400 on weekdays. On
weekends, $5,500. Would the happy couple like
the ceremony broadcast on the Internet? One
hundred ninety dollars, if you please.
As for Carnival-once a charming, neigh-
borhood event, now a commercial frenzy ("a
cultural hijacking:' Robert C. Davis, a profes-
sor of history at Ohio State University, wrote in
Venice, the Tourist Maze)-sensible Venetians
ten stories up. You might as well be in a helicop- leave town.
ter. But it's not important. You arrive in Venice, One thing the Venetians haven't abandoned is
write a postcard, and remember what a wonder- their cynicism. When the exodus is complete, if
ful evening you had:' the city ends up as nothing more than an exqui-
The malady is chronic. The onset of infection, site, gilded bonbonniere, "Who will be the last
says art historian Margaret Plant, dates to the Venetian left?" a woman whose family reached
1880s, when the city "was fetishized, and its face back generations was asked. "I don't know," she
was turned resolutely to the past. At tbat point replied. "But certainly the last Venetian will
zealously guarded Venice became a commodity want to be paid for it:'
city, a package of the totally picturesque. Its own Meanwhile, plans for the city's salvation ap-
citizens were confirmed as a lower order:' pear and disappear with the regularity of the
The contagion seeps down streets, climbs tides, but the stakes couldn't be higher: Tourism
bridges, and crosses the piazza. "There goes in Venice generates $2 billion a year in revenue,
another pie<:e ofVenice:' Silvia Zanon, the teacher, probably an underestimate because so much
said sadly when La Camiceria San Marco, business is done off the books. It is, reports the
a clothing store located near the Piazza San University of Venice's International Center of
Marco for 60 years, had to move to a smaller, Studies on the Tourist Economy, "the heart and
less prime spot because the rent had tripled. soul of the Venetian economy-good and bad:'
The shop, quintessentially Venetian, tailored Some people suggest that Venice's wounds are

VANISHING VENICE 101


There is lile in Venice (440 births
in 2007). but an aging population,
self-intlicted- -the sequelae of the drive to wring fatting birthrate. and families who
every last eum, yen, and dollar out of tourism. leave (by barge, of course) for more
"They don't want tourists," observes a former affordable housing on the main-
resident, "but they want their money. American land have reduced residents from
tourists are best. They spend. Eastern Europeans 150.000 to 60.000 in five decades.
bring their own food and water. Perhaps they
buy a little plastic gondola.~ "Nineveh is finished. Babylon is finished. Venice
There is talk, always talk (this is Italy) about will remain. That is, the stones wiII remain.1lle
limiting tourists, taxing tourists, imploring people won't:' But for now there is still life as
them to avoid the high seasons of Easter and well as death in Venice. Franco Filippi walks at
Carnival, but tourism-intertwined with the night.in search of carvings on weathered walls.
loss of resident population, complicated by the Silvia Zanon leaves for school, crosses San
power of hoteliers, gondoliers, and water taxi Marco only to fall in love with the city again,
drivers, who have an interest in maximizing the and, assuming it is in season, you can still man-
influx of visitors-defies simple solutions. age to buy an eggplant.
"Let me remind you, the loss of population ... "Venice may die;' Cacciari insists. "But it will
is not only a problem in Venice but in all historical never become a museum. Never.~ Perhaps. In
towns, not only Italy;' cautioned Mayor Cacciari. 1852 art critic John Ruskin wrote thal the Doge's
"The so-called exodus, which dates back very Palace would not be standing in five years. A
far in time, is deep rooted in the lodging issue:' century and a half later, it does.
Redemption may be out of reach. "It is too To glide from the slate green waters of the
late," Gherardo Ortalli, the historian, says. lagoon past San Giorgio Maggiore to the San

102 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC· AUGUST 1009


Marco Basin, to approach the Doge's Palace children. Skeptical of their story about an allnt
with its tracery of arches and columns, to see it who would arrive soon, he gently questioned
as the doges must have-enthroned on a gilded them, listened, then called the carabinieri.
barge surging through a silver sea, oars dipping "Such innocence and tenderness. They just
and rising, banners pulled taut by wind-is to wanted to be together:' said Elisa Semenzato,
see that beauty, difficult and bruised, survives. the hotel manager. When the carabinieri ar-
As does romance. What is Venice-so seduc- rived, they took the pair on a tour of the city
tive, so lethally attractive-except the most sub- in their boat, then to district headquarters in
lime setting for the trilling of the heart? a former convent and put them to bed in very
For example, one fall day not long ago two separate rooms. The next day they were served
children, 12 and 13, from Grosseto, a town in a three-course meal on a table set with linens in
Tuscany, decided to nm away. Their parents dis- a hall facing the 15th-century courtyard.
approved of their romance, so they saved and Romance triumphs; reality intrudes. The
spent their allowance on a train to Venice. They parents, less than enchanted with the Romeo
walked narrow streets paved in stone and lin- and Juliet narrative acted out by their children,
gered on the bridges that vault the canals. Night arrived that afternoon to take them back to
approached, and with it the need for a place to Grosseto, away from the soft ache of first love
stay. They arrived at the Hotel Zecchini, a modest and the gilded beauty of Venice.
guesthotlse with an inviting orange-and-white Kisses end. Dreams vanish, and sometimes
awning. The clerk heard a small voice ask cities too. We long for the perfect ending, but
about a room, looked up, saw nothing, leaned the curtain falls along with our hearts.
over the desk, and looked into the faces of two Beauty is so difficult. 0

VANISHING VENICE 103


Framed in the windows of the Caffe Florian, well-heelecl tourists become Ilamboyant extras in the
opulent theatrics 01 carnival, when fantasy is embellished with waterfalls 01 lace and voluptuous silks.
VANISHING VENICII lOS
106 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC· AUGUST :1009
Though the acqua alta frequently floods low-lying parts of town like the Piazza san Marco. residents
simply put on boots and accept it as a mild inconvenience fO( the privilege of Jiving in Venice.

'palazzo del
Camet1et tghl
The ground floor
01 this 161.h-century
building f\oOd$-----''..1
when the acqua alta
reaches 3.4 leet The
.stone facade shows
moderate damal1O.

Plana San Marco


One 01 the lowest spots in
Venice, the entrance to the
Basilica in San Marco floods
frequently. Temporary elevated
walkways provide passage,

PUNTA DEllA SALlIT'E


TlDE-GAUGE STATION
Punta della SaM.
The t891 tide measurement here
has been the city's zero-level
relerence lor sea-level rise.
FLOOD ZONE
Venetians are used to getting their feet wet, and efforts to alleviate the long-term effects
of water are part of dally life in the city. During the acqua alia, unusually high tides cause
~ floods (map). The lowest lying areas (dar1<est blue) are most often inundated.

~ nDE l..£VEI...

-
HOW OFTEN?
uo HiQMsl_ "" f«:Onl
~,
_.,1.

'''- - - u
" --02
• De<:eml>M
~~IrI2OOB
1 (5.1 It)
", - - u Ovet 90 percenl

, __ •.e· _ ot lana """'""a _

U ...• ~,65 Pflrcanl of 1M

'"
Yf,tJI, 2 dIMS
U
city', 001011"111 floo<l

U .••• S~a", SO"""

• 3.3 •••• Mos' pathwaY' and


IOiclewllq flood
" ,,'
" U
...cou.a AU.. {HIGH _lU)

- '"
-
U

'" U

.,
1-0-- L----_ L" __ ,~,
~- from a baHlirla _
zaro \ida lave!,
BUILDING AND CANAL-WALL DAMAGE rllCQt<led 1r11897

• ExtenSive Of moderate
Minimal
, Circles mark buildings most likely to
flood, due to location and structure,
About half ot surveyed walls and build· when area is undetwater,
ings show damage. Turbulent waves
caused by motorboats (moro ondoso)
can accelerate the deterioration of canal
walls. When sediment accumulates in
canals and clogs sewer ~nes, sewage
seeps into adjoining canals and damages
brick and mortar. Dredging sediment
helps limit damage.
N

,.I ~
,
,.
~ IICM.E _1
1lAsm0ll 0 """"'"' m<nt
'_:ID»1lII9WlO
_"''''''-'''-'5Wf'
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SOUOOCI.! an' OfYDaCL-..... _ _


0'CItY1'ECtNC ~ _........a eDnIIl
~ __ OII""''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Of _ _ ~ . . . OIAUAa.-nooo"""
VENICE
VERSUS

THE SEA
'PaIaUlJ
CamerlL
The gro
01 this 1
buildin~
when tt
reache!
slone f,
modera

Fl",inforced
."

TIle Venetians put down roots-on a cluster of islands in a lagoon


at the north end of the Adriatic Sea-by driving alder and oak piles
into the sandy ground. Atop these foundations they built homes and
palaces and began a battle against the ceaseless rise and fall of the
tides. 'The city's structures, despite reinforcements, have suffered the
assault of brackish water, sea-level rise, and subsidence (sinking)-
some five inches in the past century. Excessive pumping of ground-
water contributed to subsidence.
r~.:- VenIce
" }
~
\ \ MOSE: TO STEM THE TIDES
1ml The MOSE project, begun in 2003 and projected
"'dr/a lie
s," to be complete in 2014, will string lour barriers
made up of 78 floodgates-at a cost of nearly six
Malamocco billion dollars-across the three inrets (left) 10
"lot Venice's lagoon. The gates, raised when unusually
high lides threaten flooding, will block seawater
from pouring into the lagoon. Controversial from
the start, the project provoked years of political
wrangling as well as WOfrieS aboUt lagooo ecology.
Clt/owa
ioltot

How it wOft(s
Hollow steel gates
filled with water lie ltat
in housing caissonS
buill into the lagoon
bed at each inlel

DETAIL Of MAl.AIl4OCCO BARRIER

Lagoon of Venice

..Ii.mocco
Inlet

~
,." .",~.
.... ,
___ Sill ~

Sand. slit,
and clay 46lt

Sand

Clay
Lagoon bed

"'''''
!VJ<ANOO G- lW'T1SiA >HD
~ll.Ito<'$. ... " _

-
SOI.O'lCES.(:ITYOf"",-, _ .....

---
OF~~TlIANSf'OI'... ~_I.lOSE

............
""""'-al.olll'HOll'lY"""""'"
~-
~ _
­
t.n\oI$ _10 oeM
r_OCIIIe_
10_1_
BEYOND TliE BRINK
Number of times water rose to a level of 3.6 feet or higher.
u 36
31 31

• , 3 , 3 3 • 5
" "
'+ ,
,

-+- i

,- ,_. ,- ...
~
'1
187().~· ,~~ ,-
-o.ra lot _<Ie Incomp/(Ila
1911).19 1921).29
"",. 1950-611 ,~~ 19ro.79 , ~ ~.

When a tIood is predicted. Fully elevated. the


air is pumped into the gales separate sea
gates to displace water from lagoon. When the
and make them buoyant tide recedes. water
allowing them to rise flows back into the
within a half hour. gates to lower them.

Adriatic Sea

Gate-to-caissOfl T1,Inl'l(lis lor


connector Inspection and
~mOly maIntenance

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