ALBERTO NARDI: MOSE WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO SAVE ST MARK’S SQUARE FROM HIGH TIDES

Mass media attention focused on the statement made by the Associazione Piazza San Marco on the problem of flooding in St Mark’s Square even with the Sistema Mose in operation continues to be high. The weekly Gente interviewed the president of the association Alberto Nardi who, in confirming the numerous problems related to safeguarding the Square and to its continuous flooding, said that ‘we have reported the fact that, against the enormous cost of constructing the floodgates, of about five and a half billion euros, the waterproofing of the Square (estimated cost of about 100 million euros) has never been financed and never been started. We will observe this very Italian scandal: it will still go under water - with enormous damage to what is a world heritage site protected by Unesco’. These considerations were also taken up by the weekly Espresso, just out on the newsstands, that in an article on the companies building the Sistema Mose took up the Associazione Piazza San Marco’s complaint, emphasising precisely the paradox of having the Sistema Mose in operation and the Square flooded. Photo: Alberto Nardi.