VENEZIA – After 17 months the profile of a cruise ship once again plows through the lagoon of Venice. D.fter the tourist quarantine imposed by Covid, MSC Orchestra today, in the early afternoon, took the route of the Adriatic passing in front of the San Marco Basin.
Thus, the debate in the city on the presence of sea skyscrapers not far from historical monuments and on the shores and in the water has been waged a long distance war between the opposing factions.
Hundreds of members of the No Grandi Navi movement lined up on the Zattere, hoisting signs with slogans such as “Ships out of the lagoon” and “No to tourist monoculture”, launching broadsides of whistles when the boat passed by ( ahead of schedule). Further on, at Riva degli Schiavoni (therefore close to San Marco), a more efficient representation of operators and workers of the Port, in favor of cruising, has been positioned. “Orchestra”, escorted by four tugs, wanted to greet the content people of yes with a long blast of the siren.
There was tension when some small boats of cruise operators passed the area intended for them: the police were forced to intervene by separating the two blocks with water vehicles. “This ship gives us a lot of hope and confidence – he commented Marco Gorin, one of the 43 mooring partners -, it was a tough year from a working point of view, but more from a psychological point of view “. Tommaso Cacciari, leader of the No Grandi Navi, on the other hand, “on the false contrast between ships and work, the movement will always be on the side of those who lose their jobs. We will never be on the side of those who defend this monoculture that has desertified the city”.
Venezia he experienced a complicated day on the surface of the water also due to the increasingly frequent attacks by residents of the staff of the Actv, the lagoon public transport company. Accomplice to the first tourist assault on the city after the pandemic and the limitations of the capacity of the means imposed by social distancing, insults and a few punches flew. On the one hand the Venetians angry at the impossibility of getting on the vaporetto to go to work and the long queues at the landing, on the other the seafarers forced to enforce the maximum capacity of transport allowed and to refuse many passengers. An uncomfortable situation that has led more than one person to go to the emergency room of the hospital between yesterday and today Venezia reporting anxiety and panic problems.
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