Thousands of people revelled in the start of the annual Carnival celebrations in Venice on Saturday, marking a slow return to normality after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the two previous editions. The 2020 Venice Carnival, which usually draws tourists from around the world, was curtailed when the pandemic broke out in Italy in February that year and then cancelled the following year as the government sought to contain infections. Revellers wear carnival costumes to celebrate the Venice Carnival, in Venice, Italy, February 12, 2022. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri "This is the Carnival of hope," said Venice resident Cristian Scalise. "COVID is ending and we hope to return to our life as always." Italy's rate of new COVID infections and hospitalisations has been gradually declining in re...
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From a control room inside the police headquarters in Venice, Big Brother is watching you. To combat tourist overcrowding, officials are tracking every person who sets foot in the lagoon city. Using 468 CCTV cameras, optical sensors and a mobile phone-tracing system, they can tell residents from visitors, Italians from foreigners, where people are coming from, where they are heading and how fast they are moving. Tourists ride on a gondola as the municipality prepares to charge them up to 10 Euros for entry into the lagoon city, in order to cut down the number of visitors, in Venice, Italy, September 5, 2021. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri Every 15 minutes, authorities get a snapshot of how crowded the city is - alongside how many gondolas are sliding on the Canal Grande, whether boa...
Read MoreWhen the first cruise ship since the start of the pandemic sailed through the Venice lagoon last month, hundreds of people rallied on land and small boats in protest. A few weeks later, the government seemed to listen, announcing that to defend Venice’s ecosystem and heritage, cruise liners would be banned from the lagoon from Aug. 1. The move ended years of political hesitation, apparently putting the demands of residents and culture bodies above those of port workers and the tourist industry. View of the Port of Venice as the city gears up for a ban on cruise liners that becomes effective on August 1, moving to end years of hesitation and putting the demands of residents and culture bodies above those of the tourist industry, in Venice, Italy, July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Manuel Silvest...
Read MoreVenice has long been in peril from the waves that motor boats create along its canals, eroding the foundations of historic buildings and threatening them with collapse. A new electric boat that flies above the water, presented during the Salone di Nautica boat show, might be a solution. A new Swedish-designed electric boat is tested during the Salone Nautico - Venice Boat Show, in the lagoon city of Venice, Italy June 6, 2021. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri Erosion - a problem known as "moto ondoso" - is caused by the wakes of motor boats, water buses and ferries washing against the walls of buildings along the canals. Swedish company Candela's electric boat, the Candela C-7, runs on computer-controlled hydrofoils, or underwater "wings", that lift the hull into the air and make it a...
Read MoreThe first cruise ship to leave Venice since coronavirus restrictions were eased set sail on Saturday, but some local residents protested over the return to normal, unhappy about the passage of giant liners through the historic lagoon city. Hundreds of people rallied on land and small boats fluttering flags saying “No big ships” surrounded and followed the 92,000-tonne MSC Orchestra as it departed Venice port en route for Croatia and Greece. “We are here because we are against this passage but also against a model of tourism that is destroying the city, pushing out residents, destroying the planet, the cities, and polluting,” said Marta Sottoriva, a 29-year old teacher and Venice resident. The first cruise ship of the summer season, the MSC Orchestra, departs from the Port of Veni...
Read MoreItaly’s government has ruled that large cruise ships and container vessels must not pass close to Venice’s historic centre and should instead dock in a different location to preserve the famed lagoon. A decree approved late on Wednesday called for public consultations on building a terminal outside the lagoon where passenger vessels over 40,000 tons and container ships can berth without passing in front of Saint Mark’s square. FILE PHOTO: MSC Magnifica cruise ship passes in the Giudecca Canal in Venice, Italy June 9, 2019. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri In the meantime, large boats must dock at the industrial Marghera Port, far from the Grand Canal. “Anyone who has visited Venice in recent years has been shocked to see these ships, hundreds of metres long and as tall as apartment bu...
Read MoreLatest edition of Glasstress premieres at Boca Raton in Florida with 34 new works Some of the world's leading contemporary artists are invited to breathe new life into centuries-old glassmaking in Venice ― maestros of glassblowing from the legendary Berengo Studio residency help artists manifest their visions “There is every reason this year to have a world view,” says Irvin Lippman, the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s Executive Director, as South Florida boldly ushers in the new year with the national premiere of Glasstress 2021 Boca Raton. “Three years in the making, with 2020 being such a challenging year to coordinate an international exhibition of this size and scope, the effort serves as an important reassurance that art is an essential and enduring part of humanity. Ai Weiwei a...
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