Venice to have modern makeover

Venice: An ancient city about to receive a very modern facelift

By Craig Francis, CNN.com Europe writer

Described as a city at risk of being "loved to death", Venice is to be given a thoroughly modern restoration based on other famous urban waterfront cities.

Borrowing from the styles of Copenhagen, London's Docklands and Sydney, run-down sections of Venice are to be torn down early next year and replaced with modern glass and concrete constructions.

Decrepit warehouses and storage terminals have already been demolished on both sides of the Giudecca Canal, near the area known as Zattere.

A half-mile stretch of harbours, residential buildings and customs houses are to be levelled in the disused loading zone now popular with picnickers and ambling tourists.

In its place will sprout the thoroughly modern creations of the Spanish architect Enrico Miralles Moya, who beat 500 other entrants in an international competition to redesign the area.

While many fear the new initiative will be incongruous with the city's unique and centuries-old persona, civic authorities are hoping the ultra-modern, some say post-modern, designs will lure locals and students back to the city permanently.

At present, the city and its romantic gondolas lure a teeming mass of 10 million tourists a year, while a mere 50,000 people choose to reside there.

Attracting the permanent residents back from the surrounding hills to which most have fled over the years in the face of stifling tourist numbers will be banks, bars, restaurants and other business and leisure facilities.

Venetian mayor Paolo Costa said the city had to overcome its fears of modern architecture if it wanted to remain a vibrant and alive city, as opposed to a giant museum showpiece.

"We risk disappearing due to excess love," said Costa.

"It is a sign of change in the traditional Venetian dialectic between doing and not doing. I hope that Venice can enrich the album of western architecture with contemporary pages such as this."

In Zattere, not far from the church of Santa Maria del Rosario and its frescoes by Tiepolo, a transparent corridor is to be built linking pedestrians and buildings to the canal via a winding staircase.

Among the 28 institutions involved in another joint cultural effort, also aimed at rejuvenating the city's image, are the Palazzo Grassi exhibition hall, libraries, museums and the gutted La Fenice opera house.

City officials hope to restore to original condition by 2002 La Fenice -- six years after it went up in flames in what turned out to be arson.

"Venice without La Fenice is not Venice", Mayor Costa recently told journalists as he presented his project 'Venice - a cultural laboratory'. As the world marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi next year, Venetians like to recall that La Fenice commissioned "La Traviata" and "Rigoletto" from the opera genius.

But tourism is taking a serious toll on the island city's infrastructure, and city authorities have long been grappling to find solutions to keep its museums, services and transports working properly.

"The world must help us, and the world must help us finance city management," said Costa.

Venice is also looking into legal possibilities to create a Venice trademark.

"All those who are using Venice for their own interests must make a contribution to preserve the myth," said Costa.

Venice
CNN Travelguide

Venice Carnival 2001
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Venice

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