The Gazzetta del Sud newspaper reports that government officials in Rome, Italy ordered a halt to large cruise ships passing through the Venice lagoon, effective November 2014. The outright ban on cruise ships applies to those ships over 96,000 tons. (The Costa Concordia is 114,500 tons).
The legislation comes after years of debate and highly charged emotions regarding the effect of increasingly larger cruise ships on the historic old city.
According to the newspaper, environmentalists warn that the lagoon surrounding Venice, an UNESCO heritage site, is at risk due to its fragile ecosystem. Experts warn that the thousand-year-old wooden piles that prop up the city underwater would crumble like toothpicks under the weight of a 114,500-ton cruise ship like the Costa Concordia cruise ship.
In September, there were protests against the cruise industry which were widely reported in Italy, although the news did not gather much attention in the U.S. You can see photographs of the giant ships here. The Miami-based cruise industry took a rather arrogant approach to the local protesters and largely disregarded them as a radically based nuisance.
The Italian government also announced a limit on smaller cruise vessels which will become effective in January. Cruise ships more than 40,000 tons must be reduced to 20% of their current volume in Venetian waters.
The new law was enacted with heavy references to the Costa Concordia disaster last year.
Cruise traffic will eventually be rerouted so that any maritime accident would not approach the best-known and most vulnerable parts of the city and would reduce the disruption of the fragile foundation of the city.
Read some of our prior articles about Venice and the threat of larger cruise ships:
Carnival Sunshine Buzzes Venice & Rekindles Controversy
Monster Cruise Ships Menace Venice
Are Cruise Ships Ruining Venice Or Just Memories From My Youth?
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