Venice, Italy – It is not clear yet why has it taken so many years to be adopted, but the easiest solution had always been at hand: Venice residents will just move one floor higher and avoid all high-water related problems.
“It is something everyone has been contemplating since the times of the Venetian Republic” admits Alessandro Siorpaes, a resident of Castello district in Venice. “But nobody felt comfortable at speaking his opinion”.
In the meantime, billions of euro have been wasted in the development of a yet-to-be-tested underwater dam that was supposed to lower the tide levels. The project, called “Mose”, has been planned in the 1980s and has been siphoning public funds for years.
“But now instead of keeping the water lower, we will raise the city higher” declares Venice’s mayor Luigi Brugnaro. “All the shops full of tourist paraphernalia will be moved to the apartments at the higher floor. The water will be free to invade the former shops without any problems”.
The association of the Gondolieri – the famous operators of the traditional gondolas – are rejoicing since “more flooded streets will mean more opportunities to transport Chinese people through waterways” – reads an official press release.
The fate of the inhabitants of the penthouses is still to be defined. The most credited plan is that of building an additional floor on all the houses of the city. “It will be less expensive than completing the absurd Mose dam, with its 7 billion euro of investment” concludes Mr. Brugnaro.
