Unesco farce, Venice is saved: the city Still off the list of sites at risk
The 45th Plenary Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will take place from 10 to 25 September 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The highly anticipated session aimed at was held yesterday afternoon decide whether to include Venice in the black list of heritage sites in danger or not. For the occasion, a delegation had arrived days ago led by the general director of the Municipality of Venice, Morris Ceron, accompanied by the deputy mayor Andrea Tomaello and the environment councilor Massimiliano De Martin, together with the Italian Ambassador.
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Among the aces up the sleeve thrown on the table by the Venetian delegation, in addition to the MOSE and the barriers built around the Basilica of San Marco, there was the launch of the definitive regulation for the access fee. A measure taken two days ago, at the last minute, during a stormy session of the Council of the Municipality of Venice, at the end of which Luigi Brugnaro approved the farce measure of the entrance ticket: without a maximum threshold, it will be in force on an experimental basis in 2024 for just 30 days out of 365, with an infinite series of exceptions regarding those who will not pay it and a calendar still to be decided.
Just thinking about it makes me discouraged: for those who know in depth the drama that Venice has been experiencing for decades, which has worsened exponentially after Covid, he knows well that the access fee is a decoy, a weapon of mass distraction that will do nothing for the city and will actually contribute to its death sentence. Because a city where you pay a ticket to enter and where for every inhabitant reduced to a figure there are, at least, 21 tourists, is no longer a city, it is an amusement park. So, going in order, what follows is the tragicomic chronicle of the meeting which took place this afternoon under the obliging direction of UNESCO:
4.45pm: At the opening of the meeting, Japan speaks to defend the actions of the Brugnaro Council which the Japanese ambassador paints as a “model” example for the whole world; obviously he opposes the inclusion of Venice in the list of sites in danger.
4.54pm: The Indian ambassador takes the floor, complimenting the “tremendous effort” of the Italian Government in protecting Venice. The only aspect on which he requests clarification is the management of tourist flows.
5.02pm: 5 ambassadors have already spoken, they all agree with Japan for the support for the “undisputable” and “tremendous effort” made by the Brugnaro Council and the Italian Government to defend Venice.
6.00 pm: Another 10 interventions from as many countries are recorded. Everyone, more or less, is aligned with Japan. The only one out of the pack, who dares to talk about the problem of depopulation in Venice, is Mexico (I love Mexico and the Mexicans; as always they never disappoint me).
The session closed with a decision already written: for the umpteenth time UNESCO decides not to decide, opting for postponement (the third since 2016). As stated by the municipal councilor of Terra e Acqua Marco Gasparinetti, “the work of the technicians is swept under the carpet as is done with dust, because diplomacy has its rules, which do not exclude more or less unmentionable exchanges. In this case , the experts’ report is watered down thanks to an amendment presented by the Japanese ambassador. 5 countries have already spoken, all in favor of the postponement. We are at #comics but this will only surprise or disappoint those who have not followed the previous episodes starting since 2016”.
It certainly has nothing to do with the position supported by the ambassador of the Rising Sun, but it is worth knowing that the mayor Luigi Brugnaro, in addition to everything else, in Chiusi, in the province of Siena, owns the Società Agricola San Giobbe (founded in 2014), an important herd of Chianina and Limousine, famous cattle breeds with very fine meat, whose largest buyer is Japan. And again to the very Japanese Toyota, in 2018, the Municipality of Venice entrusted the management of car sharing for the entire metropolitan area. Pure coincidences, randomness, conjectures; however, as the Gobbo said, it is a sin to think badly, but often you guess. Meanwhile, in Venice ruin can wait and extinction proceed.
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