(May 5) Venice known as the “floating city,” is now increasingly becoming the “sinking city.” Over the past century, the city has subsided by approximately 25 centimeters, or nearly 10 inches. Meanwhile, the sea level around Venice has risen by nearly a foot since 1900, creating a perfect storm of rising tides and sinking ground. This relentless combination threatens to submerge one of the world’s most beloved cities into the depths of its iconic lagoon.
For tourists, the city’s vulnerability has added to its mystique a pressing need to visit now, before it’s too late, serving as a reminder of nature’s immense power over human achievement. But for Venetians, the island city’s location has long been both a source of protection and a challenge. While tides have risen more frequently with the intensifying climate crisis, Venice continues to sink at an alarming rate of around two millimeters per year due to natural subsidence.
However, a radical solution has emerged. What if Venice could be… lifted?
It may sound like something from a science fiction novel, but this is the proposal of Pietro Teatini, an associate professor of hydrology and hydraulic engineering at the University of Padua. Teatini believes that pumping water deep beneath the city’s foundations to raise the seabed could offer a possible solution to this growing crisis.
In contrast to the Italian government’s current strategy of investing millions in flood barriers, such as the MOSE project, Teatini suggests a more innovative approach. The MOSE system, designed to protect the lagoon by blocking the Adriatic during exceptionally high tides, has been in testing since 2020. Originally planned in the 1980s, it was meant to activate five times a year. However, due to climate change, tides now exceed 110 centimeters the threshold for catastrophic flooding more than 150 times over the last two decades. The barriers have already been raised around 100 times since their trial phase began in 2020, yet the system remains in a testing phase, and its costs have skyrocketed to an estimated six billion euros.
But the barriers, while effective, come with their own set of complications. Each time they are raised, they not only disrupt traffic at Venice’s second-busiest port but also prevent the natural tidal flow that helps keep the lagoon’s ecosystem intact. With the city continuing to sink and tides continuing to rise, Teatini’s plan offers a different kind of hope.
Teatini proposes raising the city itself by 30 centimeters just under 12 inches through a process that would push the seabed upwards, essentially lifting Venice out of harm’s way. In doing so, he believes the city could buy itself an additional two or three decades before needing to develop a permanent solution.
“We have around 50 years, including the lifespan of MOSE, to develop a new strategy,” Teatini explains. “We need to think much more radically, and this plan could provide the grace period necessary to do so.”
While the idea of lifting an entire city might seem far-fetched, Teatini’s innovative approach could be Venice’s last chance to stave off complete inundation a temporary yet crucial solution that could keep the city above water, literally and figuratively, for generations to come.