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I went to venice a few years back, there's an outer seawall that protects it from tides. Venice also naturally floods all the time, when I was over there the l

I went to venice a few years back, there's an outer seawall that protects it from tides. Venice also naturally floods all the time, when I was over there the large square next to the cathedral / church flooded. When it floods, it usually floods several inches on average There's a good article on it here https://www.visit-venice-italy.com/acqua-alta-venice-italy.htm https://www.visit-venice-italy.com/acqua-alta-venice-italy.h...

starik36 9y ago
Same thing happened when I was there as well. But, surprisingly, it wasn't as big of a hassle as one would have thought. You could just walk around it. And a few hours later rain stopped, the flooding relented and it was back to normal.
- briandear 9y ago
  And you’ll see stepping-stone type things scattered around the sidewalks to help people walk over flooded areas as well as doors to homes and businesses sealed at the bottom to allow for about 1 meter of flooding without causing any interior damage. Then there are sandbags scattered about to help with flood protection when necessary. Venice has been fine for hundreds of years; it isn’t all the sudden going to fail.. it just adapts and moves on. By far the biggest danger to Venice is the hoards of tourists that make getting around for a local almost impossible. When I was there in November (to take a Venician Plastet/Marmolino class) — even in the cold rain it was essentially a mob of people seemingly everywhere except the most back streets of back streets. That “hidden Venice” is quite amazing — I am definitely over the crowds and kitsch that pollute the maIn drags. Pro-tip if you want to have a nice visit: explore the streets and canals at night.
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    > By far the biggest danger to Venice is the hoards of tourists that make getting around for a local almost impossible. You've got it precisely backwards. By far the biggest danger to Venice is the absence of those hoards of tourists. Venice is dependent upon tourism income for its economy to an extent much greater than most other cities. Rome, Florence, Milan, and others have big businesses and use tourism as supplementary income, but it's the main source for Venice.
    - mschuster91 9y ago
      > By far the biggest danger to Venice is the absence of those hoards of tourists. No. The danger is any point away from the equilibrium - too few/no tourists and there's no income, but too many tourists and the tourists won't spread the word for other potential travelers anymore when they e.g. cannot go to any popular place or getting ripped off hundreds of dollars for pizza.
      - CydeWeys 9y ago
        "It's such a popular tourist spot, no one goes there anymore." (Apologies to Yogi Berra.) Tourism-based economies can't fail from becoming too profitable. If prices are high, it's only because people are still willing to pay them. It's market forces in action.
        dredmorbius 9y ago
        Just giving that a cursory thinking through, I can see several ways in which that might fail. "Real-estate-based economies can't fail from becoming too profitable. If prices and rents are high, it's only because people are still willing to pay them. It's market forces in action." Or, perhaps, it's rents-extraction, money-laundering, signs of even worse collapse elsewhere, and killing the underlying fundamentals of the local economy. I suspect there's similar lines of analysis which could be applied to tourist spots. And am wondering what examples of now-failed tourist temples there might be. Say, Niagara Falls, as an example.
        CydeWeys 9y ago
        Niagara Falls is doing just fine though? Can you think of examples of tourism destinations that failed because too many people went there? It seems tautologically impossible to me. Yes, the character of them may change, and they may go more upmarket, but I can't see them completely collapsing from getting too successful. The much more worn path is tourism spots failing from lack of visitors. You see that at the older Las Vegas casinos that can't compete with the latest and greatest mega-resorts, for example.
  - smnscu 9y ago
    Got gloriously lost in Venice, can confirm. The less visited areas are charming. edit: totally agree with your reply. I ended up at some point in a small, quiet plaza with cobblestone, old church, pigeons, and a bench under a tree, and I felt like I was in a movie
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      I got stuck there for a week once because of a train strike. I was bored within a day or two with the tourist areas, thankfully went on walks outside tourist areas and found them much more interesting and turned the diversion into a pleasurable one.
  - tlack 9y ago
    The adaptability of Venetians, and their ability to live a full, happy life while accepting their lack of control over the environment, changed me a deep and meaningful way. and those dark back streets, too narrow for GPS signal at times, distant foot steps, no addresses.. wonderful!
klez 9y ago
> I went to venice a few years back, there's an outer seawall that protects it from tides. As I said in another comments, no, the wall (MOSE, several walls, actually) has not been completed yet and is non-operational.
- Kagerjay 9y ago
  hm, didn't know it wasn't operational yet. I just remember seeing a diagram of it relative to the venice map

starik36 9y ago

Same thing happened when I was there as well. But, surprisingly, it wasn't as big of a hassle as one would have thought. You could just walk around it. And a few hours later rain stopped, the flooding relented and it was back to normal.

briandear 9y ago
And you’ll see stepping-stone type things scattered around the sidewalks to help people walk over flooded areas as well as doors to homes and businesses sealed at the bottom to allow for about 1 meter of flooding without causing any interior damage. Then there are sandbags scattered about to help with flood protection when necessary. Venice has been fine for hundreds of years; it isn’t all the sudden going to fail.. it just adapts and moves on. By far the biggest danger to Venice is the hoards of tourists that make getting around for a local almost impossible. When I was there in November (to take a Venician Plastet/Marmolino class) — even in the cold rain it was essentially a mob of people seemingly everywhere except the most back streets of back streets. That “hidden Venice” is quite amazing — I am definitely over the crowds and kitsch that pollute the maIn drags. Pro-tip if you want to have a nice visit: explore the streets and canals at night.
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  > By far the biggest danger to Venice is the hoards of tourists that make getting around for a local almost impossible. You've got it precisely backwards. By far the biggest danger to Venice is the absence of those hoards of tourists. Venice is dependent upon tourism income for its economy to an extent much greater than most other cities. Rome, Florence, Milan, and others have big businesses and use tourism as supplementary income, but it's the main source for Venice.
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    > By far the biggest danger to Venice is the absence of those hoards of tourists. No. The danger is any point away from the equilibrium - too few/no tourists and there's no income, but too many tourists and the tourists won't spread the word for other potential travelers anymore when they e.g. cannot go to any popular place or getting ripped off hundreds of dollars for pizza.
    - CydeWeys 9y ago
      "It's such a popular tourist spot, no one goes there anymore." (Apologies to Yogi Berra.) Tourism-based economies can't fail from becoming too profitable. If prices are high, it's only because people are still willing to pay them. It's market forces in action.
      - dredmorbius 9y ago
        Just giving that a cursory thinking through, I can see several ways in which that might fail. "Real-estate-based economies can't fail from becoming too profitable. If prices and rents are high, it's only because people are still willing to pay them. It's market forces in action." Or, perhaps, it's rents-extraction, money-laundering, signs of even worse collapse elsewhere, and killing the underlying fundamentals of the local economy. I suspect there's similar lines of analysis which could be applied to tourist spots. And am wondering what examples of now-failed tourist temples there might be. Say, Niagara Falls, as an example.
        CydeWeys 9y ago
        Niagara Falls is doing just fine though? Can you think of examples of tourism destinations that failed because too many people went there? It seems tautologically impossible to me. Yes, the character of them may change, and they may go more upmarket, but I can't see them completely collapsing from getting too successful. The much more worn path is tourism spots failing from lack of visitors. You see that at the older Las Vegas casinos that can't compete with the latest and greatest mega-resorts, for example.
- smnscu 9y ago
  Got gloriously lost in Venice, can confirm. The less visited areas are charming. edit: totally agree with your reply. I ended up at some point in a small, quiet plaza with cobblestone, old church, pigeons, and a bench under a tree, and I felt like I was in a movie
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    I got stuck there for a week once because of a train strike. I was bored within a day or two with the tourist areas, thankfully went on walks outside tourist areas and found them much more interesting and turned the diversion into a pleasurable one.
- tlack 9y ago
  The adaptability of Venetians, and their ability to live a full, happy life while accepting their lack of control over the environment, changed me a deep and meaningful way. and those dark back streets, too narrow for GPS signal at times, distant foot steps, no addresses.. wonderful!

klez 9y ago

> I went to venice a few years back, there's an outer seawall that protects it from tides. As I said in another comments, no, the wall (MOSE, several walls, actually) has not been completed yet and is non-operational.

Kagerjay 9y ago
hm, didn't know it wasn't operational yet. I just remember seeing a diagram of it relative to the venice map