The first cruise since the pandemic sailed through the heart of Venice, escorted by euphoric port workers and triumphant tugboats jets of water as it crossed the Giudecca Canal, but also by hundreds of protesters on land and a small armada of boats. wooden with flags with the phrase “No more huge ships.”
The battle for the future of Venice was tough as the MSC Orchestra set sail with nearly 1,000 passengers. The trip proclaimed the return of the cruise ships to the Italian city after an absence of more than 18 months, but the ship restarted an anti-cruise movement that for more than a decade has opposed the passage of huge ships through the fragile city in a lagoon claiming environmental and safety risks.
The government of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi pledged earlier this year to ban cruises on the Venetian lagoon, but reaching that goal will take time. Even an interim solution that would change the route of cruises outside the Giudecca Canal is unlikely before next year. Getting the ships out of the lagoon, which is more than 250 meters long and weighs more than 90,000 tons, could take years.
Venice has become one of the most important cruise destinations in the world in the last two decades. It’s such a lucrative business that 667 cruise ships carried nearly 700,000 passengers in 2019, according to the Cruise Lines International (CLIA) association.
Passengers were arriving on Saturday to board the 16-story, 92,409-ton MSC Orchestra cruise ship, on a week-long journey, with stops in southern Italy, two Greek islands and in Dubrovnik, Croatia. They were greeted at the port with welcome signs.
Antonella Frigo, from nearby Vicenza, said she was excited to finally be able to go on vacation. The pandemic caused his departure date to be delayed several times. However, he is also sympathetic to the idea of huge ships not passing through the center of Venice.
“I’ve always said they should be removed, but I’m sorry, I have to leave Venice, since I live nearby,” Frigo said, after she and a companion arrived at the cruise terminal. “But I hope they can divert them, although I wonder if it will not be possible to suggest another solution so that they do not pass where they should not.”
The message to passengers enjoying a view of Venice from the ship’s decks was mixed, as the cruise ship navigated the Giudecca Canal, passing in front of St. Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs.
Hundreds of Venetians gathered in a strident protest on one side of the canal to demand an immediate halt to the transit of cruise ships on the lagoon, arguing that there are a number of previous decrees that were never carried out.
The MSC Orchestra responded by loudly honking its horn, while two dozen boats with port employees celebrated the resumption of cruises and the return to work for hundreds of port employees.
According to the Venice Labor Committee, more than 1,700 workers benefit directly from cruise ships, from tugboat drivers to personnel carrying suitcases, and another 4,000 jobs depend on this sector of the economy.
The long battle for cruise ships leaving and arriving in Venice intensified after the cruise ship Costa Concordia sank off Tuscany in 2012, killing 32 passengers and crew.
It was exacerbated after another ship, the MSC Opera, collided with a pier and a tourist boat, injuring five people, while maneuvering through the Giudecca Canal two years ago.
In all that time, no viable alternative has been found.
The cruise association has expressed support for moving larger ships to other areas to avoid the Giudecca Canal, but maintains that cruise ships still need access to the Venetian lagoon.
While some cruise companies have experimented with the ports of Trieste (to the west) or Ravenna (to the south) as landing points for those visiting Venice during the pandemic, tourism officials say the 1,600-year-old city remains. a key port of call for cruises in the Adriatic Sea and eastern Mediterranean.
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