How Overtourism and Rising Seas are sinking a UNESCO Icon
Scientists have predicted that Venice's monuments will only be accessible by submarine if sea levels continue to rise.
Venice is at risk of being submerged due to rising sea levels and the weight of overtourism, with both visitors and water flooding the streets in recent years.
According to a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature), the Venetian lagoon has flooded increasingly over the past 150 years.
Historically, there have been 28 events in which seawater flooding affected at least 60 per cent of the city; 18 of those have taken place in the last century alone.
High tides in the lagoon have become markedly more frequent in recent decades. Between 1870 and 1949, just 30 tides exceeded 1.1 metres - the threshold at which Venice's flood barrier system is activated. Between 2015 and 2024, there were 76 such events.
The study, led by Prof Piero Lionello of the University of Salento, sets out that "all low-lying populated coastal areas should recognise the challenge of long-term sea-level rise and start considering adaptation implications now".
Professor Robert Nicholls of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, a co-author of the study, is unsparing in his assessment.
He concludes that there is no optimal strategy for Venice, and that no adaptation measure can sustain the city as it currently exists in the long term.
Any approach must balance residents' safety and wellbeing, economic prosperity, ecosystem preservation, heritage and cultural tradition.
The report also stresses that large-scale interventions such as permanent barriers can take between 30 and 50 years to construct, making early planning essential.