Venice, heading to the world heritage blocklist that is in danger

Unesco considers that Venice should be included in the black list of world heritage sites that are threatened if the Italian government does not take more pertinent measures to protect the city. In this case, the alert is given due to the "irreversible damage" that the city has faced due to the climate crisis and mass tourism.

“The effects of continued deterioration due to human intervention, including continued development, climate change impacts, and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes to the property's Outstanding Universal Value. In addition, the combined effects of natural and human-induced changes are causing deterioration and damage to building structures and urban areas," UNESCO said in a statement.

Since the city was declared a heritage site in 1987, it had already received a similar alert from Unesco in 2019. Given this new recommendation, a world heritage committee will meet at the end of September to assess the current situation of the city.

UNESCO said corrective measures proposed by the Italian state are "currently insufficient and not detailed enough." It added that Italy "has not been communicating in a sustained and substantive manner since its last Committee session in 2021, when UNESCO had already threatened to blocklist Venice.

Unesco 's position is that the measures that have been advanced in Italy "are still insufficient and must be further developed." For their part, the authorities in Venice indicated that they would read the Unesco recommendations and talk with the Italian government.

In 2020, the flood barrier began to work after several years, after the floods that the city suffered in 2019. In addition, in 2021 Italy accepted a UNESCO request to ban cruise ships weighing more than 25,000 tons.

A spokesperson for the Venice municipality told Reuters the city "will carefully read the proposed decision published today by the Center for UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and will discuss it with the government".

For years, Venice has fought against the challenges posed by mass tourism, despite being renowned for its canals and cultural landmarks. In a single day of the 2019 Carnival, an overwhelming 193,000 individuals swarmed the historic center. Although Venice has been making efforts to implement a fee for day-trippers in order to manage the influx of visitors, the process has been hindered by objections and delays.

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