It is less one.

While Venice was about to enter the Unesco list of World Heritage in danger, the floating city escaped this registration in extremis Thursday.

The reason ?

Italy's ban on allowing large cruise ships to enter the heart of the lagoon.

The decree taken by the Council of Ministers in Rome on July 13 indicates that the transit of “sea mastodons” in the historic center of Venice is a thing of the past.

It was after receiving this "last minute information" that the Unesco World Heritage Committee meeting in Fuzhou, China, finally decided not to inscribe Venice on the list of World Heritage in Danger, despite reservations. from Norway.

Italy will have to be held to account

The committee gives the Italian authorities until December 1, 2022 to report again on the efforts made to preserve the exceptional ecosystem and historical heritage of the Serenissima.

Because Unesco has not signed a blank check to Italy: Rome will have to "develop a proposal and a set of corrective measures, with a timetable for implementation" before the 46th meeting of the committee in 2023, puts it keep the final text.

Italy will also have to present “an updated report on the state of conservation of the property before 1 December 2022”.

End of boats over 180 meters long

The decree comes into force on August 1. From this will be prohibited from entering the basin of San Marco, the Canal de San Marco and the Canal de la Giudecca vessels over 25,000 gross tonnage, over 180 meters in length, 35 meters of air draft, or whose emissions contain more than 0.1% sulfur. They will have to moor in the industrial port of Marghera, where improvements will be made, while smaller cruise ships (around 200 passengers) can continue to dock in the heart of the city.

The Italian Minister of Culture and Heritage, Dario Franceschini, welcomed the committee's decision.

But "the world's attention to Venice must remain strong", he warned, calling for "the sustainable development of this unique property".

The NGO Europa Nostra welcomed a "step in the right direction" Thursday during the committee meeting by videoconference.

"But the big ships should completely leave the lagoon", regretted its spokesperson, Sneska Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic.

The list of heritage in danger is not "a punishment"

Defenders of the environment and cultural heritage accuse the large waves generated by the largest ships, several hundred meters long and several storeys high, of eroding the foundations of the Serenissima, and of threatening the fragile ecosystem of its lagoon.

The debate was revived last month with the return of cruises after months of a pandemic that had given the Venetians calm and clean air, while depriving them of significant income.

And the prospect of a classification in the number of threatened sites clearly precipitated the political calendar.

Inscription on the list of endangered heritage is not "a punishment", assures Unesco, even if it can be perceived "as a dishonor".

Above all, if nothing is done in the long term, the site can be removed from the World Heritage list, on which Venice has appeared since 1987.

World

Italy: In Venice, cruise ships now banned from entering the historic center

Economy

Last trains to Venice and Milan from Paris and Marseille for the Italian company Thello which relies on high speed.

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