Cruise ship

20 Great Things to do in Venice 4/20 - View over Venice /  by Marco Secchi

Get a bird's-eye view of Venice

At almost 99m (325ft), the Campanile is the city’s tallest building, originally built between 888 and 912 (in July 1902 it collapsed, imploding in a neat pyramid of rubble. It was rebuilt exactly 'as it was, where it was', as the town council of the day promised). Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III rode a horse to the top of the original in 1451; these days visitors take the lift. The view is superb, taking in the Lido, the whole lagoon and (on a clear day) the Dolomites in the distance.

Photo By: Marco Secchi

Photo By: Marco Secchi

But my favourite view is from the Campanile of San Giorgio.....you can get there taking the Vaporetto n2 and is just one stop. The entrance is from the beautiful Church, and usually you should be able to admire as well Tintoretto  the Last Supper, 1592-94, one of the last works the artist painted. If is not there....write to Mr Vittorio Sgarbi one of the worst curator of the Italian Pavillion at Biennale...that decided to get it on loan to "sex up" his own very poor choice of "art" for 2011 Biennale Arte

P&O Cruise Ship "Oriana" enters Canale della Giudecca

Big Cruises in Venice? NO thank you! /  by Marco Secchi

(Marco Secchi)

Protesters against large cruise ships docking in Venice are doing all that they can to stop the ships. A protest on Sunday caused several delays for cruises departing the city.

Seatrade Insider reports that several cruise ships left the Italian city later than planned as roughly 70 small boats operated by protesters took over the water while hundreds more protested from land. Among the ships that faced delays on Sunday was the 3,000-passenger Costa Fascinosa, 1,712-passenger MSC Opera and 2,536-passenger MSC Musica.

This protest, led by the No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships) organization, is part of an ongoing mission to stop cruise ships from coming into the port as locals have are afraid of potential damage.

The protestors believe that the large cruise ships, which pass within yards of Venice's Piazza San Marco, are causing environmental damage to the land. They claim that the ships are too big compared to the city and that the water churned up by them cause damage to Venice's delicate foundation. They fear that the ships may also be impacting historical treasures of the city.

NO Cruise Ships....in Venice /  by Marco Secchi

The protest against the Cruise Ships was held today on the Grand Canal and just after the Punta della Salute....for pure coincidence...a large...no a very LARGE Cruise Ship...the Cunard Queen Victoria was crossing St Mark's Basin....Protesters on small boats display banners against Cruise Ships crossing Venice get as close as they can to the Queen Victoria Cruise Ship in St Mark's Basin (Marco Secchi/XianPix) (Marco Secchi /XianPix)

Few more pictures of today protest organized by Comitato NO Grandi Navi are here. I just realized I took the pictures in Southampton few years ago when the Queen Victoria was named and pictures are here....

As usual was a very well organized and behaved protest!

 

Large Cruise Ships in Venice /  by Marco Secchi

UPDATE 12/1/2012A new protest has been called for the 14th January at 3:30 pm details are here but will be from Le Zattere near the waterbus stop!

VENICE, ITALY - DECEMBER 18:  A protester holds  a flare in front of a banner as they protest against large cruise ships in St Mark's basin on December 18, 2011 in Venice, Italy. Venetians and Environmentalists are opposed to cruise ships, which plough through the shallow Venetian lagoon, damaging the fragile buildings and canal banks. (Marco Secchi)

This evening saw a protest in St Mark's Basin against the super Cruises. In the picture a protester holds a flare while on the banner is written "BIG CRUISES YOU KILL ME"

Giorgio Orsoni Mayor of Venice few days ago said cruise ships could be transferred to Porto Marghera, on the mainland, in order to minimise their environmental and aesthetic impact on Venice.

Environmentalists and heritage groups have long pointed out that as cruise ships plough through the shallow Venetian lagoon, their powerful wake and undertow damages the fragile canal banks, wooden piles and mud banks on which the city rests.

There has been a huge increase in the number of cruise ships visiting 'La Serenissima', as Venice is known, from 200 in 2000 to 510 in 2007.

Last year 1.6 million tourists arrived in Venice by cruise ship, a more than fourfold increase since 1997.

Venice's cruise ship terminal was the 10th busiest in Europe but is now the fourth most popular.