ABOUT THE WETLANDS

St. Mark's Square, November 4th, 1966. Flooded under 150 cms of sea water (194 cms when measured from the average sea level), several boats were seen navigating the piazza (di Venezia 1999). Three days of torrential rain brought Venice to its knees (di Venezia 1999). Venice remained isolated from the rest of Italy and from the world for 24 hours, and the city was not at all prepared to face this disaster (di Venezia 1999). The streets in the historical centre of Venice were flooded to heights of more than 50 cms above see level (di Venezia 1999). The flooding forced more than 1200 residents to abandon Venice entirely (di Venezia 1999). More than 75 percent of businesses, shops, and artisans' studios were seriously damaged, and thousands of goods were ruined or destroyed (di Venezia 1999). The damage to the city's artistic heritage was irreversible and incomprehensible (di Venezia 1999). This devastation is expected to occer every 100 to 150 years (di Venezia 1999).