The idea of death is inseparable from Venice, a twilight city if ever there was one. Some surrendered to its decadence to the point of asking to be buried there when their time came, like Igor Stravinsky and his wife Vera, or the poet Joseph Brodsky. But the Adriatic city is no longer just a stage where human corruption is recreated.
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From Mann’s Death in Venice we have moved to the death of Venice contemplated as a real possibility in the report by researcher Piero Lionello, from the University of Salento, recently published in Scientific Reports . The study warns of the sustained growth of extreme acqua alta episodes due to rising sea levels and land subsidence. But the most chilling thing – and what has caused the most anguish – is that the authors contemplate, among possible solutions, the abandonment of part of the city and the relocation of its monuments.
It seems like an AI hallucination, but it’s not.
On a smaller scale, the Spanish coast is also preparing to adapt to the new climatic era. In Society, several initiatives are cited today for the retreat inland of constructions located on the seafront. Coastal promenades do not shine as much as Venice’s monuments, but until recently they were a source of pride in municipalities and an argument for winning or losing elections. Today they are being demolished and moved to safety from the bites of storms and rising waters.
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In some places, there is even a choice to restore dune systems that should never have disappeared: it is well known that plants that retain dunes do not look good on Instagram because they clash with the dominant aesthetic criterion. What is beyond doubt is that global inaction in the fight against the climate crisis will force colossal investments in palliative policies, with the destabilizing potential that this entails.
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In today’s article, Eurecat scientist Carles Ibáñez argues that this controlled retreat must be applied sustainably, before the cost becomes unmanageable.
Venice is just an extreme preview of what is to come. In fact, its destiny is painted in oil: the church of Madonna dell’Orto exhibits a Tintoretto canvas in which the end of the world arrives in the form of a brutal rise in waters.
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