On August 1st, rule changes for cruise ship traffic in the Venice Lagoon will come into force.

It remains to be seen how the decision by the government in Rome on Tuesday evening will affect the medium to long term.

Because the cabinet decree is a compromise with room for interpretation.

For now, all sides are trying to claim victory for themselves.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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Contrary to hasty reports on Tuesday evening, there is no ban on cruise ships from the lagoon.

Giant ships with a volume of more than 25,000 gross tons, a length of more than 180 meters and a height of more than 35 meters are also allowed to continue to sail in the lagoon.

For the giant cruisers, there is only a passage and berthing ban for the four-kilometer-long Giudecca Canal between the Old Town Island and the Giudecca Island, the St. Mark's Basin directly in front of St. Mark's Square and the San Marco Canal to the east.

Smaller cruise ships with around 200 passengers are still allowed to head for the two named canals and the basin directly at St. Mark's Square and moor there too.

Millions in compensation for entrepreneurs and workers

The large cruise ships are to temporarily dock in the industrial port of Marghera, which is within sight of the old town in the northwest of the lagoon on the mainland. The government is providing 157 million euros for the expansion of a cruise terminal in Marghera. Millions more in compensation go to companies and workers who suffer financial losses from the diversion of the large cruisers within the lagoon.

A commission of experts to be set up by the government in Rome in cooperation with the Veneto region is to complete a feasibility study for sustainable cruise traffic in the lagoon by the end of June 2023 and commission the construction of the cruise terminal of the future following an international tender process. For this, Rome is initially providing 2.2 million euros. The Association of Cruise Shipowners welcomed the compromise and, above all, the establishment of the Expert Commission. This will create planning security for the development of cruise tourism in Venice.

In an initial reaction, Tommaso Cacciari, chairman of the citizens' initiative “No Grandi Navi” (No Big Ships), was personally satisfied with the cabinet's decision. There was no official statement from the organization by Wednesday. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini called the decision "historic" immediately after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening. The world cultural organization Unesco and "all the people in Venice who were shocked by the sight of the giant ships in the most beautiful and fragile place in the world" had waited for this decision, said Franceschini. Unesco experts recently suggested putting Venice on a "black list" for endangered world heritage and withdrawing the lagoon city from its status as a world cultural heritage.large cruise ships should continue to operate in the immediate vicinity of the old town and St. Mark's Square. Venice and its lagoon were added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 1987.


It remains to be seen how the cruise shipowners will react to the government's decision in Rome. It was not until the beginning of June that a cruise ship set sail from Venice for the first time after a 17-month pandemic interruption. The exit of the 294 meter long “MSC Orchestra” with 840 passengers on board was accompanied by protests by the organization “No Grandi Navi”, but also by popular festivals for supporters of the cruise industry. Around 1700 employees work at the Venice passenger port, who are now to be compensated for their expected loss of earnings due to the diversion of the cruisers in the lagoon from tax revenues. Instead of the around 500 cruise ships that docked in Venice in 2019 or started from there,According to the plans of the cruise shipowners, a maximum of 70 luxury liners should arrive in the lagoon city or set sail from there in the 2021 season. It remains to be seen in the coming weeks whether, as planned by the shipping companies in June, around three giant cruisers will actually cross the lagoon on their way to and from Marghera per weekend, but without the possibility of the passage through the Giudecca Canal, which is particularly popular with tourists.