Venice's survival will be even more
in peril if the lagoon city doesn't issue a permanent ban on
cruise ships docking there, UNESCO said Monday.
The UN art heritage body said it would examine a proposal to put
Venice on its endangered list at its plenary session on July 16
to 31.
If approved, it would demand urgent action by the Italian
government by next February.
A ban on cruise ships appeared to have been passed earlier this
year but the seaborne behemoths subsequently returned to Venice.
There have long been calls for cruise ships to be banned from
Venice because of their impact on the city's delicate historic
buildings and on the lagoon's unique ecosytem.
The drive to ban them intensified after a cruise ship crashed
into a quay in June 2019.
Last May 12 the Lower House gave definitive approval to a decree
banning cruise ships from mooring in Venice.
Cruise ships have been stopped from landing in the centre of
Venice for good thanks to the decree the government approved,
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said in April.
The decree says a plan for the berth of the cruise ships outside
the Venice lagoon must be drawn up and implemented.
In the meantime, big ships will keep docking at the city's
industrial port, which has been the landing site for them since
last December.
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