No Big Ships!

Yesterday's post turned out to be more timely than I knew.  More or less while I was drafting it, demonstrators were winding up a weekend of protests against the large cruise ships passing through the Giudecca Canal.  On Sunday, supporters of No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships) lined up at the Stazione Marittima at the port of Venice to block passengers' access to the ships.  Later, dozens of small boats occupied the Giudecca Canal to prevent one of the ships from leaving. 

© Giornalettismo.com

Ultimately, darkness, rain, and wind ended the small boat blockade and the ship departed about three hours late.  

The demonstrators' larger purpose had been to send a message to Venice mayor, Giorgio Orsoni.  Orsoni is due to meet later this week with Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Maurizio Lupi, to discuss new docking arrangements for the ships.  One option would be to develop new basins inside the lagoon at Maghera.  No Grandi Navi, however, wants the ships kept completely out of the lagoon and favors an off-shore facility from which visitors would be ferried into the city.  Anna Somers Cocks, in her NYRB article (see link in yesterday's post), suggests that the real power in the lagoon is not the mayor, but the head of the Autorità Portuale di Venezia (Venice Port Authority), Paolo Costa.  And, she says, he favors arrangements that would remain within his jurisdiction, i.e., something inside the lagoon.