In the week that the rusting hulk of Costa Concordia was finally towed from Giglio by salvage vessels, it was almost inevitable that Venice would launch into headline-grabbing mode with another protest.
The city’s plans to banish big cruise ships from St Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca Canal were thwarted earlier this year by a regional court – and by the absence of an alternative lagoon channel to the cruise terminal.
Now an assorted collection of Venice supporters – from the Aga Khan to Miami Vice’s Don Johnson – have signed a letter addressed to Italy’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, calling for a “decisive confrontation” to end what they call “this outrageous spectacle”.
Among the 63 names are Sir Michael Caine, Julie Christie – whose cult 1973 film Don’t Look Now was set in Venice – Jane Fonda, Cate Blanchett, Michael Douglas and architect Sir Norman Foster.
The petition said: “Having prevailed against flood, pestilence and war for more than 13 centuries, Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic and unparalleled Unesco World Heritage site, finds herself mortally threatened by the daily transit of ocean liners, indifferent to the probable risk of catastrophe.”
The Cruise Lines International Association responded by saying it fully supported restrictions on large vessels in the lagoon until a new route is found.
They also pointed out 600 ships dock in the city each year and they bring important benefits to the city.
It said the liners generated 10,000 jobs in 2013 – equating to approximately one in six of all jobs in Venice.
Concordia, which ran aground and capsized with the loss of 32 lives in January 2012, is on its way to Genoa to be scrapped.
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