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These days we’re suffering from pollution of the air. The whole northern Italy, as well as other parts of Europe, is covered with smog. In Italy, we’re worse off though, because we’re somewhat behind when it comes to regulations of polluting vehicles and burning of fossil fuels. Even though the idea of driving cars on natural gas as in CNG, LNG, and LPG is originally Italian, we haven’t implied new research to come up with a system to resolve the pollution in a good way.

Regional differenses

In the south, they’re better off, even though the situation is maybe worse there when it comes to cleaning exhausts from factories and vehicles. We, in the north, have more industry, we have more people with more cars and the climate is worse… It’s colder so we need to burn more fuel to warm up our houses, and it’s less windy. Especially in the Po-valley, it’s particularly calm.

Every city tries to fight pollution of the air in different ways, but it always comes down to the restriction of traffic. And there are two substantial ways to reduce the smog.

1. Close the city center for cars during peak hours, when working people are in movement and the traffic is heavy.
2. Block the overall traffic with limitations for the most polluting vehicles.

Measuring the pollution of the air

What they are talking about is the pm10 aka particulates. These are very small particles that enter the organism and can cause asthma, lung cancer, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, premature delivery, birth defects, low birth weight, and premature death. Not very nice in other words.

The levels that they’ve detected in various regions in the north of Italy, are way over the limits and way over what could be regarded as safe by any standard. It’s bad. Interestingly the city of Turin has decided to ban even diesel engines labeled Euro5. That means that cars as new as from 2014 (!) could be denied circulating.

But this is not the first time we’re in danger. It happens every winter. And the reason, apart from the obvious lack of filters and systems to clean exhausts, limitations of the traffic and simply the use of industrial processes that do not pollute the air to this extent – is the climate. Because in winter the air is cold. And the little breeze we might have in summer, spring and autumn, stops completely in winter. Even without the pollution, we have bad, humid, and windless air. And it’s already misty and smog-like even before we fill it with pm10.

So is it worse in Venice? … Or is it maybe better out there in the lagoon?

Actually, I couldn’t say: It depends on the winds.

The mainland inside of Venice is very crowded. It’s full of people, houses, streets, and cars. And there’s the big, ugly, dirty, and disorderly Porto Marghera. The Venetians tend to blame everything on Porto Marghera. At least when it comes to polluting issues. The Harbor is foul, everybody knows that.

But the truth is that nowadays the biggest environmental problems are not simply connected to the industry like it was in the past. The filth comes from various sources. The industry is one big part but it is not alone.

For example, Some time ago we had readings of pm10 the were more than 20 times over the limit – 1000 micrograms/cubic meter… And the reading came from… Sant’Elena in eastern Venice. And Sant’Elena is a beautiful, calm, and isolated rural area. A place where you could never imagine any significant pollution. All the same, the air was much more polluted there than inside the Porto Marghera.

Obviously, the wind brought the pm10 in a straight line over Venice to Sant’Elena. And the pollution in the air came from Mestre, Porto Marghera, from the boats but most of all did it arrive from the cruise ships that laid anchored at Tronchetto. Because the day after the levels were down to normal again.

The answer is blowing in the wind…

So if you look at Venice on the map, it is actually very close to Porto Marghera. And it is very close to both Mestre and the surrounding areas. It all depends on where the wind blows. One must remember though that inside the lagoon there isn’t much of the coastal breeze that cities like Trieste, Ancona, and Pescara have.

I remember after the Chernobyl catastrophe (… Yes I’m that old), some areas in northern Europe got all the radioactive fallout, even though it was very far from the reactor. The wind brought it all up in the atmosphere and then it fell down randomly in places very far away. And I remember something about salmons in Canada being radioactive after the Fukushima smelt-down… Even years after.

So the conclusion is always the same… We are all connected. If shit happens in one part of the world you’re never safe no matter where you are. Because… Right… We are all connected. If we like it or not.

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Ghosts and phantoms in Venice

We’re in the darkest time of the year… And the coldest. The traditional holidays, Christmas, New Year, and Epiphany are right around the corner. Who knows why they put them right there, in the midwinter. Maybe so that we would have something to do and to be cheerful about there behind the shut doors, closed in, away from the blizzard, the darkness, and the high tides… Or to counterweight all the ghosts and phantoms lurking in the alleys…

In Venice, winter is a time for reflection and rest. The tourists are a bit less invasive and everyday life can make you imagine you’re actually living in a normal town. More beautiful and extraordinary than other places, but still normal…

… If it wasn’t for all the stories about the ghosts and the phantoms.

Venice has a rich and dreadful history, many strange things have happened during the centuries and still happen now, right in front of our noses. And then there’s the lagoon, with its grey water, sometimes calm and inviting as a pond in a park but black, frightening and full of demons when the storm’s roar.

The mad Shoemaker

At the beginning of the 19th century lived a shoe-maker in Calle de le Muneghe. His name was Matteo Lovat and he was a religious fanatic. Reading the bible from dawn til dusk and elaborating all kinds of rites and Christian beliefs in his solitude. He didn’t confess to any particular denomination. But was convinced that he had a mission directly from God and that he was sanctified.

His beliefs led him to try to auto-crucify himself on several occasions. He didn’t succeed and people just shook their heads and thought it to be an impossible task. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

On the 19th of July 1805, he managed to nail both hands to a cross, cut himself on the side of his chest and then push himself and the cross out of the window. There it hung fixed to a wood-beam with its macabre sight for everybody to witness.

He was saved but died the year after at San Servolo, which at that time served as an asylum.

Ghosts and Phantoms come in all shapes. In Venice they come as those who are common in our landscape… As Gondoliers, f.ex.

The unfriendly Boatsman

Not long ago there was a Gondolier who was particularly rude and offensive. He was unmarried and maybe the lack of human companionship had turned him into a dislikable person. He treated his customers badly, cheated them, and seemed to find a certain pleasure in doing so.

Even worse was that he treated his fellow Gondolier brothers the same way. Without any signs of empathy or compassion, he slowly became an outcast, someone who nobody wanted to have anything to do with. 

He had a son, through a short affair with a very young girl. She couldn’t keep the boy and he grew up with his father.  He was the joy of the gondoliers’ life. The boy was nothing like his father, but sweet, kind, and humble. He was strong and tall and his father had decided that he would take the same trade, Gondolier. As nobody offered to teach him, for obvious reasons, his father became his Master-Gondoliere.

EOH

The father had a different way of calling out before a turn on the canal. While other Gondoliers did the common OEH! every time they closed in on a bend, he shouted EOH!. Maybe as a protest against the rules and conventions of the profession.

The boy died. He was only 17 years old but was hit by a terrible, unstoppable disease. At the funeral, the father had planned to offer everybody lunch at Osteria Al Minion close to what was then the central Post-office. Maybe as a way to soften the bad relationships and tie together some of the many bonds that had been torn apart during the years. 

But nobody came to the funeral. Nor his relatives, nor his colleagues, nobody. And on the stairs of the chappel, he uttered a curse. Terrible words, cursing everybody, including God, Jesus, and the Devil. 

The sad and lonely father soon followed his beloved son to the kingdom of the dead, but his spirit still lingers in the shadows of the floating city. And even today the Gondoliers of Venice sometimes can hear his voice when they approach a bend on the canal. At night, going home after a work-shift, or when they’re going out in the early, foggy morning hours, or sometimes when waiting at an isolated Gondola-station…

– EEOOOH!!

Santa Maria della Salute.

The impressive cathedral on the south side of the inlet to Canal Grande from the south, close to Punta della Dogana (, where there is a museum for contemporary art, which I can recommend.) is called Santa Maria della Salute. This church is the central piece for the most Venetian of all the Venetian holidays, Festa della Madonna della Salute, The Virgin of health festival… or something in that direction, the 21st of November.

The origins of the Feast of Santa Maria della Salute are very similar to that of the Redentore. It’s a story about the bubonic plague, that seemed unstoppable, and in the absence of better ideas, the Venetians prayed to the Holy Virgin, and she helped them and stopped the disease.

The Bubonic Plague

It was in the year A.D. 1630 that the plague hit Venice again. Venice was one of the most stricken cities in Europe, having close contact and constant trading with the middle east. The 1630 – pestilence didn’t come from the east though, it came from the west, from inland. The city of Mantova was badly infected and Ambassadors were sent to Venice in a desperate search for help. The Mantovani were put in quarantine on the island of San Servolo between Venice and Lido, but officials from Venice had to talk to them. Obviously, not enough precautions were taken, the Venetians were contaminated, and the weeks after, the deadly epidemic started its terror.

This was a particularly violent bacteria and the deaths were so fast and so unpredictable that many people died where they stood. Within a month the streets and campi were practically covered with dead bodies, and both the Doge and the Patriarch died. The whole summer the terror continued and when all seemed lost and nothing the city decided could stop the dying, the Doge decided to, once again ask the Virgin Mary for help.

The Procession

In autumn 1630 the city decided to form a Procession in honor of the Virgin. For three days and three nights without interruption, the city proceeded along the alleys and the fields. A few weeks after, the disease was slowing down for the first time in months. So the Doge Nicolò Contarini, just like the case with the Redentore, decided to build a cathedral to pay tribute to the Virgin Mary. He died in April 1631.

To build the church it took some 50 years, but finally the 21st November 1687 it was consecrated. From that day, every year the Festa della Salute is celebrated right there and a temporary bridge is constructed from the San Marco side to Dorsoduro, just like a bridge from San Marco to Giudecca is set up at Redentore.

The terrible disease 

The truth about the plague, just as the case with the Redentore-Plague in 1575-1577, was probably that the spreading of the disease naturally slows down after some time because those who remain are immune or at least have better defenses. And in winter the flees, who are the carriers of the bacteria, are slower and they reproduce slower because it’s cold. In November 1631 it was over, and a little less than 50.000 people had died in a year and a half… One-third of Venice’s population.

Anyway, Venice got another masterpiece of a cathedral, and they got a traditional holiday that has lived on for 400 years.

How the Salute Village Feast became a local holiday

This holiday of Santa Maria della Salute is the most Venetian of all the local holidays. It has an interesting story also in reasonably modern times. Every city has its own patron saint. Venice has Saint Mark’s, and by chance, it happened that the national holiday The Liberation Day, in remembrance of the end of world war 2, falls on that same day, April 25, as the holiday of Saint Mark’s. So, as the Venetians can’t take advantage of their Saints holiday, as it is already a national holiday, they have, by law, the opportunity to choose another local holiday to celebrate instead of the Saint Mark’s festival. And Venice chose La Festa della Salute, and so we are free from school and job to walk over to the Salute and hold mass without the employer or headmaster interfering.

Outside the church, there are many stands that sell candles. Small candles, big candles, and some candles so long and heavy that they are difficult to even carry. The tradition is to buy one and then go into the church and lit it for the Virgin Mary.

If you don’t want to attend the sermon, there are still lots of street food, sweets, chocolate, cotton candy, and mulled wine. You can find street artists, and children can buy balloons… All in a normal village feast style way. It’s kind of special to us. Venice is so full of tourists, and so full of artificial attractions, that it’s nice to have something that’s really genuine. It’s something that makes you feel as if Venice was just like any other small town, just like Rovigo, Conegliano, or Pordenone. And it’s a very nice, cool, laid-back atmosphere.

And the Santa Maria della Salute holiday is in November

Another reason why it’s that local, genuine feeling is obviously that it’s in late November. That’s one of the very short low-season periods in Venice. So there aren’t all that many tourists around. Plus the fact that many come from the mainland just to celebrate la Festa della Santa Maria della Salute. From Mestre, Marghera and even from Rovigo, Conegliano, and Pordenone.

But if you’re still around in November, you should check it out. It’s not very special or extraordinary, it doesn’t have the fireworks of Redentore, it doesn’t have the Regatta of the summer festivals.

But it’s different. And the reason it’s different is that it’s so ordinary… An ordinary village feast in Venice, where everything else is out of the ordinary.

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Floods in Venice

This time I’m not going to write about all the water pouring into the city from the sea. I will not list all of the historic buildings being damaged, or the shops and offices having all their merchandise or their documents destroyed by saltwater by the latest floods in Venice.

I’m just gonna sum it up…

This week we’ve had 4 of the 20 highest tides of all times.

• November 12, 187cm 2nd ever
• November 13, 144cm 20th ever
• November 15, 154cm 8th ever
• November 17, 150cm, 10th ever

On my Youtube channel a guy, a friend told me to tell everybody about the corruption He commented and stressed the facts about the politicians and entrepreneurs in an unholy collaboration defending their ego as well as their personal winnings and that this has led us to the situation we know too well. He’s obviously talking about the MOSE-project.

So, I’m going to do that first. And if you don’t like numbers or if you don’t like me blaming everything on everybody else, please, just jump to the next section. Because this blog is not about this. It’s about something else.

Facts about the MOSE project.

First of all… It’s not ready. The latest predictions are that it will be operational at the end of 2021.

1989. The first project was made public. The cost was set to 1,3 billion euros in today’s currency. MOSE would be completed in 1995.

1998. MOSE was sentenced by the ministry of cultural heritage and environment, as being harmful, and the progress stopped.

2000. The Region of Veneto appealed to set aside the judgment, won and the project was back in business.

2003. The construction of the MOSE project was initiated. The budget was now 4131 million euros.

2014. 35 persons involved in the project were arrested. Including the major of Venice Giorgio Orsoni, and the president of the Region of Veneto, Giancarlo Galan.

Today, after 16 years the budget is inflated and now it is 5493 million euros. This figure is not fully financed.

The cost at the end of the project is estimated at 7 billion euro.

The maintenance of the ports and the whole system is estimated at 95 million euros a year.

Today, after 16 years of building, there are severe problems for the project. Some say that it’s a dead-end, that it can never provide a solution to the floods in Venice. I’d like to think not. But still, there are huge issues and they’re all connected to the fact that it’s all under water, in a very rich environment with a strong current, exceptional algae- and mussel growth, and a muddy and sandy seabed.

But wasn’t I supposed to write about the floods in Venice?

Yes, I’m getting there. So, maybe it was a stupid idea to try to close in the whole lagoon. Maybe it’s hopeless to try and fight the sea and the seawater. Still, in other parts of the world, they’ve succeeded in doing just that. The Netherlands has 3500 kilometers of dikes as one-third of the country is under sea level. Some as much as 5 to 6 meters under.

But it still wasn’t that I was going to write about.

I was going to write about the floods of Venice but even more about the other floods, real floodings.  And yes, I know that there has been corruption in handling the MOSE. And I know that the whole project probably is a failure from the start because all that equipment lying on the bottom of the lagoon among the clams and the mud won’t last, can’t resist the corrosion, the salt, and the detritus. I’m sure that some people definitely have made a lot of money on bribes, while others have made even more by selling services and equipment that were overpriced, useless, or simply bad business.

But in the end, MOSE won’t help us one bit.

And the reason is this: The MOSE, when operational, can handle high tides up to 3 meters, and a rise in sea level up to 60 cm.

The IPCC released a report on climate change in September this year. In that report, there is a worst-case scenario that is now probable if the Governments in the world don’t commit to their promises in the Paris agreement. The probability that the increase of temperature will reach these levels has multiplied as countries now are more reluctant to respect the agreements and accept new scientific research.

In this scenario, the sea level globally will increase between 61 centimeters and 110 centimeters by 2100. In that case already in 50 years or so we could start to have the sea breaking through.

So why should we care about Venice? Why on earth is she so important? Couldn’t we just let the Venetians go down with their city…? They’re used to floodings and water in the streets anyway. Why bother? Is it only because Venice is a unique city that has been there for almost 1500 years, and it would be a shame if it drowned?

The Floods in Venice isn’t the issue, nor the MOSE, nor the corruption…

Bangkok will disappear before the new century. Bombay in India would lose one-fourth of its territory to the sea. Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Alexandria in Egypt will all have water in the streets… To that half of Bangladesh will be submerged, together with a big part of northeast India,  the whole southern part of Vietnam, the Eufrat-Tigris Valley,  southern Louisiana, most of the Netherlands, and the Maldives… The beautiful paradise on earth with palm trees, coral reefs, and shining white coral beaches will be wiped off the face of the earth… And many, many others of the coastal regions of the world.

It’s estimated that by 2100, land now home to 200 million people could sit
permanently below the high tide line. The past five years have been the warmest in modern history according to measurements made by NASA. IPCC also tracks the CO2 in the atmosphere, and it’s not pretty:

To reach the goal of a 1.5°C rise in temperature by 2100, the pathway is 41 GtCO2e in 2025 and 27 GtCO2e in 2030. Compare these with the emissions targets submitted by the September report, which results in total global emissions of 52–55 GtCO2e in 2025 and 53–56 GtCO2e in 2030.  We’re not moving towards a world with less fossil fuel consumption, we’re not reducing the CO2 in the atmosphere. We’re actually not even slowing down the burning of gas, oil, and coal. We’re increasing it…

GtCO2e. “Gigatonnes of equivalent carbon dioxide”. It is a simplified way to express various greenhouse gases by expressing them in carbon dioxide that would have the same global warming effect.

So, maybe we don’t want to save the world? Maybe we just don’t care? 

I don’t think that’s the case. It’s just that we haven’t really understood the gravity of the situation. I remember a neighbor of mine many years ago, who was so shocked when the sandy holiday bay where he had played as a child, and where he used to bring his children, suddenly had become a disgusting, smelling sewer for all the fertilization, chemicals and all kinds of waste that industries, farmers and privates continue to throw in the water. That was the year that he decided to paint the boat hull with a non-toxic, eco-friendly anti-fouling.

I think we are all like that. It’s different to read reports on the internet, see the figures on TV, read articles in the paper… Or actually have the sea coming into your living room. It makes you aware of how small we are and how big the world is.

So, even if you haven’t had the same experience as we’ve had this last week. And even if the being or not being of Venice may seem something that doesn’t concern you, or at least is relatively unimportant. It’s not. And it has nothing to do with Venice. And could the images of Venice under water sensitize the world opinion? Could what’s happening in Venice make the people of the world think about the world and climate change for a minute or two? In that case, it hasn’t all been just destructive and wet…

Our world is facing some really big threats, and we have to try and save it. The only way we can do that is if we work together. And the first goal should be to at least… As an absolute minimum, commit to and respect the Paris agreement.

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Venice under water

Today at 10 am. the water in Venice was 144 cm. So, we who live here, all know what that means. We talk about 95cm… 120cm… 110, that’s when the doorway is flooded. 95, that’s when You have to take another way down to the Vaporetto. Every centimeter has its own code, what shoes to wear, what route to follow, what door to use.

The origin is a series of water levels measured at Punta della Dogana, across the Canal Grande from Saint Mark’s Square, in 1897. That year the statistically medium sea level was fixed at 0. From there we then calculate the tides every day throughout the year. Sea level is around 30-35 cm higher today than in 1897. On top of that, the high waters are more frequent and higher than in the 19th century.

At 100 cm, the problem starts

Anyway, around 100cm, that’s where the problems start. At that level, 10 % of Venice is under water. Not more than that you can get through with gore-tex shoes. Saint Mark’s Square starts flooding at 85 centimeters. At 1 meter the whole square is covered in water. So 144 centimeters is very high… It’s actually the 14th highest tide ever and on Saint Mark’s you have half a meter of water.

But the real problem wasn’t that. 144 centimeters… Well, we can manage. We have pumps and drainage, we have panels at the doors, and sealant and tape. It’s not the first time it happens, it’s a pain, everything gets wet, the shops and restaurants lose a lot of cash, children stay home from school, offices close… But in the end, we cope. As we’ve always done. The high tide is a part of living in Venice. We just wait it out, and then life continues.

… But this time it was different. It was supposed to be 145, then 150… Then suddenly it just wouldn’t stop raising and together with the strong wind, it stopped at 187 cm. And that’s when many security systems start to break. In fact, in Saint Mark’s Basilica, the water was only centimeters from reaching levels that could jeopardize the priceless treatures inside the dome.

We just weren’t prepared. And how could we have been?

First, the expectations were 145cm, then they said 160cm. It wasn’t really until right before the peak that we understood the gravity of the situation. Because the ICPSM keeps track of the tides and water levels at all times, but there is always a variety of factors that they can’t know in advance. It’s like the weather forecasts.

At 10.20 pm, 90% of the city of Venice was under water. Only once since the measuring started a higher level has been registered… 1966 when the famous Acqua Granda hit Venice. 3 deaths, a complete blackout for several days, hundreds of Gondole were destroyed. As were 75% of the shops, offices, and laboratories, as well as thousands of tons of goods. There are books, films, theater plays, and even an opera about that event. It’s something that every Venetian remembers or knows from their parents or grandparents.

There are new records every year

And now we were 7 centimeters from that record… 7 centimeters! It’s been estimated a loss from damage on goods, furnishing, and buildings on several hundred millions of euro. In the Basilica, they have a sophisticated system of drains and pumps to prevent what happened in 1966 to happen again. But it’s still a question of panels and pumps. There just is no other way to keep water out. And it is a difficult, not to say futile struggle. After a few hours, the water levels sink and after a few days, it may seem as if it’s all resolved. But inside the walls, the salt remains. Because the higher the level, the more of the water is seawater and the salt in it is highly corrosive.  It’s not only the wetness and the humidity that threatens the city… The salt is an equally dangerous enemy.

Six times the Basilica has been flooded, since the beginning of times. Six times in 1200 years. Not much but considering that three of those happened in the last 20 years, and two of them in a little more than one year. The last one in October 2018. 

But Venice is more under water for each year

Of the highest 20 floodings of all times, 5 were in the two years 2018 and 2019. And 2019 isn’t over yet. Friday the 15th of November they have predicted another day with 145 centimeters, and on Sunday the 17th, there could be another extreme high water. We pray it doesn’t happen.

Edit: In fact, on November 15 we had 154cm and on November 17 150cm. That’s 6 of the 20 highest tides of all times in the last two years. 

I have changed my view of things a little bit since Tuesday. And I know many of my fellow citizens have too. We still carry on, we put up our panels, and we dry our houses afterwords, but there is a slight, barely recognizable change in the air. And it has to do with the future.

The statistics are quite clear; we are heading towards a wetter future with higher tides and more water on the streets. But it’s different reading news articles, and seeing it on TV, compared to living it, compared to have in your living room. This time it was 187cm… What will it be next time? 195? 210? 267?. And when? Next year? In ten years?

It’s not a matter of if but of when. And am I really prepared to stay put and watch how this wonderful city becomes completely submerged by water? Do I want to fight till the end if there’s really nothing to fight for? The MOSE-project is supposed to guarantee the lagoon against sea levels up until 67 centimeters higher than today. It should guarantee the safety to the lagoon and the surroundings, because the whole territory is extremely low, up until high waters of 3 meters. And the MOSE isn’t operational yet… After more than 15 years!

There is no doubt those days will come, the days when not even MOSE can save us. The question is, are we going to sit here and wait for it, while our feet get wet and the walls of our houses crumble? Am I going to grow my children in a place that we know has no future? Or should I sell now, while I still can get good money for the house? Because fortunately, the buyers of real estate in Venice do not read the papers, they don’t follow the public debate, and they don’t read the reports from IPCC