AN UMPTEENTH, NOT VERY ‘AMUSING’, EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH TIDE

Another difficult day for Venice yesterday. The tide reached a maximum of 1.50 metres above the average sea level, submerging almost 70% of the city. The lowest parts of the city, such as St Mark’s Square and the entire St Mark’s area, were again obviously transformed into an inlet and only a few tourists managed in any case to amuse themselves with this unexpected show. The Venetians and shopkeepers were less happy, having to put up with another day of difficulty. Controversy also about the weather forecasting flop and that of the Venice city council’s Tide Centre, which had forecast only 1.20 metres: a sustained high tide and not an exceptional one as it turned out to be. But the thing we want to emphasise is how once again much of the mass media ‘trivialised’ this event, almost describing the exceptionally high tide ‘with a smile’ and dwelling on the ‘amused’ faces of the tourists rather than the more ‘irritated’ ones of the residents and shopkeepers. There seems to be a lack of awareness that such aggravated phenomena as these, linked also to the high tides that struck the Venetian coast, are not at all to be underrated. And that photo featured on the front page of the Corriere della Sera - surprisingly, considering the seriousness of that historic Milan daily - of smiling tourists who swam in a submerged St Mark’s Square in their bathing costumes opens deep reflections and considerations.