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Italy bans cruise ships from Venice lagoon after Unesco threat
Also: Italy to ban mammoth cruise ships from Venice as of Aug. 1 (Associated Press)
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Source: The Guardian
Italy bans cruise ships from Venice lagoon after Unesco threat
Vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes barred from lagoon from 1 August
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Tue 13 Jul 2021 19.22 BST
Italy has banned cruise ships from the Venice lagoon in what appears to be a definitive move welcomed by anti-cruise ship campaigners.
“We finally seem to have got there,” said Tommaso Cacciari, the leader of No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships), an activist group that has been protesting against the vessels for more than a decade.
Spurred to act quickly after Unesco threatened to put Venice on its endangered list unless Italy permanently banned cruise ships from docking in the world heritage site, the government said on Tuesday that vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes would be barred from the lagoon from 1 August.
Cruise companies will have to scrap Venice from their itineraries until the industrial port of Marghera is repurposed for passenger use. The government has appointed a commissioner to fast-track the job, which would ordinarily take about six months. Meanwhile, a call for bids for the construction of a terminal equipped to take ships weighing more than 40,000 tonnes was published at the end of June.
The 25,000-tonne limit means only small passenger ferries and freight vessels will be able to use the Giudecca canal to enter Venice’s historic centre.
-snip-
Vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes barred from lagoon from 1 August
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Tue 13 Jul 2021 19.22 BST
Italy has banned cruise ships from the Venice lagoon in what appears to be a definitive move welcomed by anti-cruise ship campaigners.
“We finally seem to have got there,” said Tommaso Cacciari, the leader of No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships), an activist group that has been protesting against the vessels for more than a decade.
Spurred to act quickly after Unesco threatened to put Venice on its endangered list unless Italy permanently banned cruise ships from docking in the world heritage site, the government said on Tuesday that vessels weighing more than 25,000 tonnes would be barred from the lagoon from 1 August.
Cruise companies will have to scrap Venice from their itineraries until the industrial port of Marghera is repurposed for passenger use. The government has appointed a commissioner to fast-track the job, which would ordinarily take about six months. Meanwhile, a call for bids for the construction of a terminal equipped to take ships weighing more than 40,000 tonnes was published at the end of June.
The 25,000-tonne limit means only small passenger ferries and freight vessels will be able to use the Giudecca canal to enter Venice’s historic centre.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/13/italy-bans-cruise-ships-from-venice-lagoon-after-unesco-threat
FILE-- A cruise ship passes by St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, Sunday, June 2, 2019. Declaring Venice's waterways a “national monument,” Italy is banning mammoth cruise liners from sailing into the lagoon city, which risked within days being declared an imperiled world heritage site by the United Nations. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the ban will take effect on Aug. 1 and was urgently adopted at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
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Source: Associated Press
Italy to ban mammoth cruise ships from Venice as of Aug. 1
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
July 13, 2021
ROME (AP) — Declaring Venice’s waterways a “national monument,” Italy is banning mammoth cruise liners from sailing into the lagoon city, which risked being declared an imperiled world heritage site by the United Nations later this month.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the ban was urgently adopted at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday and will take effect Aug. 1. It applies to the lagoon basin near St. Mark’s Square and the Giudecca Canal, which is a major marine artery in Venice.
Franceschini said the government decided to act fast “to avoid the concrete risk” that the U.N. culture agency UNESCO would add Venice to its list of “world heritage in danger” after it begins meeting later this week in Beijing.
The Cabinet decree also “establishes an unbreakable principle, by declaring the urban waterways of St. Mark’s Basin, St. Mark’s Canal and the Giudecca Canal a national monument,? the minister added.
Before the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed international travel, cruise ships discharging thousands of day-trippers overwhelmed Venice and its delicate marine environment. Environmentalists and cultural heritage have battled for decades with business interests, since the cruise industry is a major source of revenue for the city.
-snip-
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
July 13, 2021
ROME (AP) — Declaring Venice’s waterways a “national monument,” Italy is banning mammoth cruise liners from sailing into the lagoon city, which risked being declared an imperiled world heritage site by the United Nations later this month.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the ban was urgently adopted at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday and will take effect Aug. 1. It applies to the lagoon basin near St. Mark’s Square and the Giudecca Canal, which is a major marine artery in Venice.
Franceschini said the government decided to act fast “to avoid the concrete risk” that the U.N. culture agency UNESCO would add Venice to its list of “world heritage in danger” after it begins meeting later this week in Beijing.
The Cabinet decree also “establishes an unbreakable principle, by declaring the urban waterways of St. Mark’s Basin, St. Mark’s Canal and the Giudecca Canal a national monument,? the minister added.
Before the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed international travel, cruise ships discharging thousands of day-trippers overwhelmed Venice and its delicate marine environment. Environmentalists and cultural heritage have battled for decades with business interests, since the cruise industry is a major source of revenue for the city.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-lifestyle-health-travel-1bd76f84ed38a9f7c0edff5433279950
