(Venice, Italy) Human beings are fascinating creatures. I hear that people are actually cancelling reservations to Venice based upon the images shown all over the world regarding our Aqua Granda on December 1st. Instead of panicking, let's get educated. (That image you see is by Jonathan Ulman, and illustrates what Venice looks like most of the time.)
Aqua alta is NOT a flash flood from a river or from the sea. It is a tide. Most of us have been to the ocean or the sea. The tide goes in. It peaks. The tide goes out. During low tide, you can pick up sea shells that are otherwise hidden by the water and squish your feet into the wet sand. During high tide, if you have put your towel too close to the ocean, you must move it back a few feet or it will get wet. The tide is like the breath of the Earth. It is a natural, normal thing.
Venice has been in existence since March 25, 421, when she was born at 12:00 noon in Campo San Giacometto:) That makes her 1,587 years old. Most of the buildings here are at least 500 years old; some much older, and they were built using very enlightened principles.
Most people have experienced nature when she gets out of sorts. I have lived through earthquakes, fire, and riots in Los Angeles, hurricanes and flooding in New Jersey and Florida, and blizzards and blackouts in New York City. I was in the middle of a tornado in Croatia, shattered glass all around. I was even hit by ball lightening in my cradle in South Carolina. There are natural disasters all over the world all the time; it is impossible to avoid them; we either survive them or we don't. Aqua alta is not a tidal wave. It is the most gentle and pleasant of all the acts of nature, because it arrives slowly, stays for a couple of hours, and then goes away again. Every time they dig up something around here, they find a lower street level, so the Venetians are very familiar with aqua alta. Everyone puts on their boots, as if it were snowing, and goes about their business.
Aqua alta, if we have it, arrives usually in November and December. It only happens if certain conditions combine: like a
seiche, which is like a long wave that washes all the coasts of the Adriatic, and a
scirocco, which is a warm wind that blows the Adriatic Sea to the Venetian Gulf
. We all know that the Moon affects the tides, so often the Moon is also involved. The Comune of Venice has set up a website to explain it to you:
This is only my own personal theory, but the Full Moon this December 12th was the closest it has been to us for 15 years, since 1993. The New Moon was on November 27th. So, on December 1st, this great Moon was at the beginning of its approach toward Earth. Also, on that day, there was a three-way conjunction between the Moon, Jupiter and Venus -- here in Europe, the Moon actually eclipsed Venus on December 1st. Now, if Jupiter and Venus add their energy to the Moon, well, you are going to get a very strong Moon. Add to that the seiche and the scirocco, and, perhaps, that created the Aqua Granda. Again, that is only my theory, nothing scientific.
If you speak to people in town about what happened on December 1st, everyone will give you a different impression about that day, depending on their location. Most people experienced flooding, although some people were not affected at all. Children went to school. I live right on the Grand Canal at Rialto, and I am always affected by
aqua alta because the ground level is very low and the water is right below
.
Everything in Venice is back to normal, and has been for some time. Last night over at St. George's Church we had our annual Christmas gathering, and some Americans came up to me and thanked me for my reading, which was:
The angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary (that image is Sandro Botticelli's interpretation). They said it felt like a message had been delivered and that it made them feel at home. The church was packed, and afterwards we had hot mulled wine and mince pies.
Today in Venice it is bright and sunny, and everyone is over at the Christmas market which runs through many of the campi in town. There were Santa Clauses out in the gondolas this morning. There are Christmas cocktails and Christmas concerts and Christmas lights and Christmas parties. The only annoyance was the loud amateur "rock" band in Campo Santo Stefano, blasting music in the Christmas market -- a string quartet or a choir would have been much more pleasant and appropriate. Not that I'm against rock 'n roll -- I love it at the right place and time -- but it doesn't belong in an elegant square on the Sunday before Christmas.
Venice is a magical town, the only place like it on Earth. Educate yourselves before you come, and you will be sure to have a wonderful time. Now, enough about aqua alta!
Ciao from Venice,
Cat
(Venice, Italy) I must take back every bad thing I said about the new siren. I have already grown very fond of it after hearing it nearly every day. It just went off again now, the same Three-Level alarm we had when the high water in Venice was all over the news. I have to go out to dinner tonight:) I'll keep you posted.
Ciao from Venice,
Cat
http://venetiancat.blogspot.com
(Venice, Italy) First, I must correct Monday's blog about the high water in Murano. Apparently the person I spoke to on the phone was the only one in Murano who was not affected, because, as you can see by that photo there on the left, Murano received more than its share of
aqua alta.
Yesterday, British Sky TV asked me to participate in a feature Sky News was doing on the flooding in Venice after finding
Venetian Cat - Venice Blog (which "amused" the producer), and I agreed --
especially since the
ninemsn online chat scheduled for 7AM that morning (5PM for those of you in Australia) never happened due to a "glitch." We will reschedule after the New Year; I'll keep you posted, or check the
ninemsn website for updates:
So, off I dashed to an Internet Point, and we did the Sky News by webcam and Skype. I'd never used that technology before, and it was so cool to be hooked up with England while sitting in Venice with a headset. Nan McElroy, who also lives here in Venice and has her own blog, Living Venice, participated by phone. To read Nan's blog, go here:
Apparently our mayor, Massimo Cacciari, would like to clarify his remarks that tourists should avoid coming to Venice. He was correct to say such a thing on Monday, because it was impossible to move, and tourists would have only been a distraction, if not an outright impediment. You can come now if you behave yourselves:)
This morning at the gym we spoke about how we felt: almost as if we had been abandoned. It was kind of spooky -- as if we were here all alone, just the handful of residents. We wondered if that's how the people in New Orleans had felt when the water starting gushing in. It all happened so suddenly, without much prior warning. We thought that a tide so high would have been anticipated, and that it was one more trick to get rid of us:)
Later this morning, however, I did see Marino Folin, who is the former Chancellor of IUAV University (for architecture), over by Rialto -- I sat next to him on the jury for the Festa delle Maria during Carnevale two years ago. I said, "I am so happy to see you! We thought we were left here all alone. As long as you are here, it means we are still alive." Marino laughed. "That's the most important thing. That we are still alive."
The Venetians explained to me what they were concerned about. Underneath the buildings are septic tanks. If the water had risen just a little higher, the sediment in those tanks would have bubbled up through the toilets on all the ground floors of Venice. When the tide goes out, they can clean up after the sea water, but the septic tank water is
sporca and smelly, and would have left a dirty, unsanitary residue.
These particular Venetians accept MOSES because they think it is the only hope, and they wished the money had been spent first on that than on the Calatrava Bridge. Personally, I believe we should incorporate everything -- MOSES, changing the direction of the tributaries that run down to Venice, restricting the cruise ships, raising the level of the ground -- even incorporating the irrigation system of the San Francesco della Vigna friars wherever possible.
Aqua alta is nothing new. Venetians have been raising the level of the ground for centuries. But, somehow this aqua alta felt different, and not just because it was the highest in 22 years. To me, it's another warning that things on this planet must change, and change quickly, or Venice will really become the New Atlantis, a once thriving civilization filled with sophisticated thinkers. Humanity will lose all the magnificient art, culture and information we have stored here. There is only a small window of opportunity.
Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venice, Italy
Coordinates: 45 27 N 12 21 E
Population: 69,361 (2008 est.)
Historically speaking, humanity has been quite successful at shaping the environment to suit our wants and needs. We’ve blasted through mountains, irrigated deserts, and altered the course of rivers. But sometimes sheer willpower and engineering aren’t enough. Venice, Italy is a case in point. Founded by Romans this city has grown to cover more than 100 islands in the Venetian Lagoon. The trouble is these small landmasses are low-lying and susceptible to flooding. Over the centuries, rising sea levels as well as water extraction from the mainland have caused the Queen of the Adriatic to gradually sink; yesterday news sources reported that Venetians were contending with water levels that rival previous records. Years ago however, city officials recognized that their problem would only become more serious, and in 2003 began a costly undertaking to protect their architectural heritage with 78 massive floodgates. Personally, I wonder about the long term consequences mobile barriers will have on the Mediterranean’s largest wetland area.
Ben Keene is the editor of
Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his
previous places of the week.
After something of a dry spell in October, I have reverted to my normal state of maniacal reading.
A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE, by Marlena de Blasi. Adult memoir. Improbable romance: an Italian stranger asks an American woman to marry him, almost on sight, so she up and leaves St. Louis to go live in Venice.
THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS, by Donna Leon. Adult mystery. Guido Brunetti at it again. A little disappointing this one, because the villain comes out of nowhere.
WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED, by Judy Blundell. YA, this year's National Book Award winner! Terrific depiction of setting (Florida post WWII) and wonderful characterization--every person in the story believable. If you like noir films...
THE 39 CLUES, by Rick Riordan. MG action/adventure. Siblings Dan and Amy race other teams in a hunt for clues per their beloved grandmother's will. The Amazing Race/Survivor meet The Westing Game/Benedict Society? Game cards and a website go with the book.
YOUNG CORNROWS CALLING OUT THE MOON, by Ruth Forman, illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc. Picture book. I heard the author read this text at the ALA Poetry Blast in Anaheim and was *blown away* by the vividness of the imagery--vivid but still gentle somehow--and her mesmerizing voice. The illustrations are interesting...'fun' rather than 'lyrical', not what I expected after hearing the text read. But I can't wait to read more by this author!
THE LAST ENEMY, by Grace Brophy. Adult mystery. A new series (yay!) with only two books so far (boo...). Commissario Alessandro Cenni in Assisi and Perugia, investigating the death of an American.
IMPOSSIBLE, by Nancy Werlin. YA. A contemporary fairy tale and faery tale. Lucy tries to break a generations-strong curse. WOW, what a read!
THE HUNGER GAMES, by Suzanne Collins. Upper MG/YA, dystopic. Survivor meets Gladiator? I found this book ingenious and utterly compelling, but at the same time, I was bothered by the violence: People die in this story as easily and thoughtlessly as they do in video games or action movies. Twenty of them, only one of whom is developed to the point where the reader cares about them (bad grammar to avoid spoiler). I did a quick perusal of other reviews and nobody else seems disturbed by this in the same way...so I guess it's one of those 'just me' thangs. Maybe this is the point? that a book can function like a video game, and that readers can respond likewise? I'm a dinosaur--I still have different expectations when I read than when I play video games (which I do, on occasion) or watch movies, but perhaps young readers these days respond differently?
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES, by Donna Leon. Adult mystery. Guido Brunetti again. Liked this one better than GIRL (above), because at least you get a hint of the villain early on, but s/he still makes an entrance pretty late in the game. It's gotta be tough, plotting mysteries...I know, but I still feel a little cheated when I can't guess along with Brunetti.
TAMAR, by Mal Peet. YA. Parallel stories: the Dutch resistance fighters during WWII, and the granddaughter of one of them forty years later. The war story: passion, intrigue, and betrayal; the granddaughter's story, mystery and first love. Sound good? You betcha. Another WOW.
Favorite reads this month: IMPOSSIBLE and TAMAR.
I ought to write up a report on my visit to Mildred Strang Middle School in Yorktown Heights, which was terrific, and NCTE, fabulous, and Thanksgiving, also fabulous. A few of many highlights: all the sixth-graders I met at Strang; Rene Saldana, Terry Trueman, Margo Rabb, Ruth Forman, Susan Patron, tasting menu at Le Reve, Nancy Werlin, Betsy Partridge, Tanya Stone, Clarion's dinner at Biga on the Banks with professor Alexa Sandman, margaritas at Acenar, the NCTE Notables session; cornbread-sausage-jalapeno stuffing, pecan-chocolate chip pie, great gravy. :-)
Hope you all had a good holiday weekend! And by the way, Happy Birthday to my mom!
(Venice, Italy) The "sirens" for aqua alta, or high water, first went off this morning at around 7:30AM (I think). It's hard to tell because we have a new siren. It is three melodic, rising, harmonic tones, and sounds a little like Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- as if we should welcome the flooding waters with open arms. The old siren was frightening and insistent, like an air-raid siren warning of great danger to come. The Venetians did not dance to the music. As their years of hard labor were silently, slowly destroyed, the Venetians were furious.
This from Times Online, by Richard Owen from his front row seat in... Rome...?(!):
"Sirens sounded the alarm in Venice this morning as sea water surged into St Mark's Square and the authorities gave warning that the acqua alta (high water) could reach its highest levels for 30 years."
(Um... that's aqua alta, Richard, not acqua:)
I put on my high water boots, and headed off to the gym as I usually do. I arrived about 9:30. My gym is the best gym in Venice, I think. It is where the Angels stay fit, and is 90-95% Venetian and residents. The owner of the gym was agitated; I have never seen him like that before.
"The new siren is soothing for the tourists," I said. "So they are not alarmed."
"For my forty years we've had a proper siren," said the owner. "What did we need a new siren for? It's only more wasted money."
The owner paced back and forth, checking the water levels. At 10:15AM he said, "That's it. We have to shut down." At that point, the high water had flooded into the entrance. It was bubbling up through the floor and heading toward all the valuable exercise equipment. The owner was understandably distressed as he watched the manifestation of his hard work licked by the lagoon. The women's changing room is upstairs, and it was impossible to reach the steps unless you were wearing boots since the water was ankle-deep. Luckily, I had left my boots downstairs, and the attendant got them for me.
I splashed out the door. The water gushed through the calli. It was really serious. I stopped at the tobacco shop. The tobacco shop owner was even more agitated than the gym owner, and he is usually cracking jokes. "We are closed! This is not a normal day!" I said, "If it's not normal, then I need cigarettes even more." He stopped sopping up water and said, "Okay. What kind do you want?"
Out in the campo the tourists, who were standing on a small island of dry ground, starting taking photos of me as I trudged through the water, and now I became agitated. "This is not a joke!" I scolded them. "This is real life!"
I had planned to go to the supermarket, but it had already shut down. On the corner, the old woman who sold bread was still open. She is another Angel -- she was my first bread shop in Venice. So, I stopped there for bread and milk; inside the water was up to my calves. She asked, "Would you like regular or skimmed?" as if everything was fine. I said, "Skimmed." She swiftly opened the refrigerator door and grabbed the milk. She had to be fast or the lagoon water would have flooded inside the refrigerator. Soon more people poured into the shop for supplies; she had some of the only food left in town. The old woman calculated everything properly on the adding machine, and receipts were duly given. "Ciao!" she called as I left, a twinkle in her eye, and I thought she was a Truly Wise Angel.
It soon became impossible to avoid getting water inside my boots, it was so high. (That is a photo taken by Andrea Merola/EPA.) More from Richard Owen in... Rome...
"The Venice Centro Maree, or Tide Centre, which monitors water levels, said that high tides had reached 144cm (57in) above sea level , with 96 per cent of the lagoon city's surface area covered by water."
At Rialto, there was a man selling plastic boots to the tourists. I asked, "How much are those boots?" He said, "Ten euro." I said, "Last year they were five." He said, "Well, this year they are ten."
The Venetians had on their thigh-high fishing boots. All the shops were closed except for the pharmacy, another tobacco shop, and another bread shop. I needed food for Cleopatra, my cat, and decided to risk going over to the pet store. It was open! Sebastian had valiantly gathered what articles he could away from the rising water, and was still selling pet food. "Try her on this," he advised, handing me a bag. "It's for cats that have been spayed and are putting on a little weight." "You are molto simpatico to stay open today," I said. Sebastian laughed. "My apartment is already flooded."
When I got home, the water was inside my casa and had risen up to the second step. Luckily, I live high enough that if my apartment gets flooded, well, it's probably the End of the World anyway, and I can't think of a nicer way to go than into the arms of the lagoon. I sloshed into my apartment and went out on the balcony. Chairs from the restaurant below bobbed in the water. No vaporettos appeared to be running on the Grand Canal, and people were hailing water taxis and heading toward Piazzale Roma (I wish I had asked how much they were charging:). Some Venetians rowed their sandolas. Eventually a vaporetto came by and picked up some of the people who were intrepid enough to navigate the moat around the vaporetto stop.
I went in the bathroom and tried to take my boots off, but they wouldn't budge, they were so waterlogged. Finally, I ran hot water over them to make them expand, and after great effort, they came off.
Cleopatra was alarmed, dashing about, howling. I spoke to friends on the phone. Everybody was flooded. The animals were all alarmed. The only place that sounded normal was the island of Murano.
I started thinking it would not be such a bad thing if we continued to get flooded like this because then the masses of tourists would not come, and Venice would be forced to find real work for its residents. The price of housing would drop, and all the out-of-towners who own apartments here would have to reduce the outrageous rents. The Chinese businesses would not be profitable, and being pragmatic people, they would invest elsewhere. The universities would be fine because students are adjustable; perhaps they would find it a great adventure -- especially if there were subsidies. The Venetians themselves would be fine -- especially if there were subsidies -- because there are plenty of boats and gondolas, and they know how to row. There is plenty of fish from the sea, and fruit and vegetables on the islands. They could still make glass on the island of Murano, and return to lace-making on Burano. The gondoliers, needing work, would have to row the residents around. We could have high-tech businesses that use cyberspace and WiFi, and create video games. We could hold even more international conferences than we do today (just not on the ground floor:), so that the hotels could operate. Do we still have the film festival? Why, yes! Only we would have to row up the red carpet, which would float gently on the water, and the stars could adjust their attire to a more Neptunian theme.
More from Richard Owen in... Rome:
"A floating flood barrier is under construction at three entrances from the Adriatic into the lagoon, but is not due to go into operation until 2012 at the earliest."
That flood barrier would be MOSES. I have said repeatedly that I don't know enough to make a judgment as to whether MOSES is a good or bad thing. I do know, however, that the friars at San Francesco della Vigna have their own irrigation system that has served them for 200 years. I know, also, that there is a room in the Archivio di Stato that is dedicated to how the Venetians have managed the high water over the centuries. I have seen both with my own eyes. This is an excerpt about the State Archive from an article I wrote for the International Herald Tribune's Italy Daily dated August 30, 2002:
"One of the most important holdings is the series of volumes of the Senato Terra, a continuous record of daily decisions of the Venetian government that spans the period from 1250 to 1792. The Venetians were meticulous record-keepers, and noted in detail anything pertinent to the entire Republic. A brief search revealed that news of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence traveled rapidly by way of the Venetian representative in England and reached the Doge's inner circle on August 12, 1776."
As I write this, the water has receded, and a brilliant patch of sun beams on the church steeple across the canal, tumultuous clouds in the background.
"Massimo Caciari, the Mayor of Venice, said that today's flood water level was 'exceptional. ...'
...However Mr Cacciari played down alarm, saying that flooding was part of everyday life in Venice. "We get sea levels of 140, 160 cm every few years," the Mayor said. Italian meteorologists said that the entire country was being experiencing bad weather, with driving rain, snow, hail and high winds causing flooding 'from the Alps to Palermo'. Many roads in Piedmont, Liguria and Lombardy have been closed."
To read Richard Owen's entire article, go here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5266829.ece
I just can't get a Chiffon Margarine commerical that I remember from the 70s out of my head, with the punchline, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" I can't seem to embed it, but if you want to have a look, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrTPrp-fW8
Ciao from Venice,
Cat
http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/
.jpg?picon=1499)
(Venice, Italy) Human beings are fascinating creatures. I hear that people are actually cancelling reservations to Venice based upon the images shown all over the world regarding our Aqua Granda on December 1st. Instead of panicking, let's get educated. (That image you see is by Jonathan Ulman, and illustrates what Venice looks like most of the time.)
Aqua alta, if we have it, arrives usually in November and December. It only happens if certain conditions combine: like a seiche, which is like a long wave that washes all the coasts of the Adriatic, and a scirocco, which is a warm wind that blows the Adriatic Sea to the Venetian Gulf. We all know that the Moon affects the tides, so often the Moon is also involved. The Comune of Venice has set up a website to explain it to you:
If you speak to people in town about what happened on December 1st, everyone will give you a different impression about that day, depending on their location. Most people experienced flooding, although some people were not affected at all. Children went to school. I live right on the Grand Canal at Rialto, and I am always affected by aqua alta because the ground level is very low and the water is right below.
Everything in Venice is back to normal, and has been for some time. Last night over at St. George's Church we had our annual Christmas gathering, and some Americans came up to me and thanked me for my reading, which was: The angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary (that image is Sandro Botticelli's interpretation). They said it felt like a message had been delivered and that it made them feel at home. The church was packed, and afterwards we had hot mulled wine and mince pies. 
Ciao, Cat. Good to see you are managing through it all. I hope things are really better for you now. People are pulling back on many things here. In spite of that, the traveler, Lee insisted on a trip. We went to Thailand and Cambodia. In the time frame between two political protests, leaving just before the airport closings.
Incredible trip. Learned much, not the least was some Thai cooking. We took a class in home-cooking in Chien Mai. We also rode an elephant over hill and dale, through jungle and into mountain villages. Angkor Wat in Cambodia was incredible. Our guides were all great and put us in close touch with the people, oxen ride in villages, local ceremonies, off the beaten path places, and hidden eating spots, etc. I saw why Thailand is a favorite of American expats.
Like you, the doings and details of each day are keeping me occupied. Too occupied. I am looking around for a monastic situation where I can confine myself to painting - which is going well, but I want to concentrate even more and completely eliminate the bourgeois tedium.
Are you fluent in Italian now?