The mayor of Venice wants 1.5 billion to protect the city from water

Venice – The Mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, will ask the Italian government to allocate at least 1.5 billion euros (over 38 billion crowns) over the next ten years for the protection of the city against floods and for the renovation of its monuments. He stated this in an interview for today's edition of the newspaper Il Gazzettino. Last month, Venice experienced the worst floods since 1966, with water inundating significant landmarks, including St. Mark's Basilica.

According to Brugnaro, a minimum annual investment of 150 million euros is necessary for the city hall to be able to plan long-term measures against major flooding and to maintain all buildings in good condition. Priority will be given to protecting the lower-lying parts of the city, which suffer the most during high tides.

The government has already committed to expediting the completion of the massive Moses project following the floods in November, which aims to protect the city from water using a system of flood barriers in the channels leading from the Adriatic Sea to the Venetian lagoon. The system was supposed to start functioning in 2017, but it is now expected to be operational in 2021. The originally estimated costs of 1.6 billion euros have meanwhile escalated to 5.5 billion.