AN ONSLAUGHT OF BAD WEATHER, NO ST MARK’S SQUARE FOR THE VENICE MARATHON

An onslaught of bad weather battered the country last weekend, also hitting Venice. Venice was submerged by exceptionally high tides for two days running, Saturday and Sunday. Two very high tides, of 127 cm above the average sea level on Saturday, and 130 cm on Sunday, caused the usual hardships for locals and tourists throughout the city. Photos of St Mark’s Square immersed in water once again went around the world. Almost all the local and national papers photographed the Square turned into an inlet and the website of the daily La Repubblica put a video of a flooded St Mark’s Square online (see link below). The bad weather unfortunately disrupted the Venice Marathon, which went ahead all the same. But the planned scenic stage for the 8300 participants through St Mark’s Square was cancelled because it was flooded. The organisers were forced to go back to the route used two years ago with the bridge of boats at the Salute and the route along the Giardinetti Reali. The Repubblica.it video is here:

http://video.repubblica.it/cronaca/venezia-l-acqua-alta-sommerge-la-citta-marea-di-127cm/109104/107489