Venetian Lagoon Research Articles

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes reveal the human paleodiet evolution during the 8th-12th century in the Venetian Lagoon (Italy)

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes reveal the human paleodiet evolution during the 8th-12th century in the Venetian Lagoon (Italy)

Nature-based experience in Venetian lagoon: Effects on craving and wellbeing in addict residential inpatients.

It is known that exposure to the natural environment may positively modulate mental processes and behaviors; in particular, it can reduce stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. This suggests a potential integration of "nature experience" into the treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) since various types of addiction are associated with anxiety and depression. Considering that only one study has been reported to date in patients with alcohol use disorder, the effect of nature experience in SUD patients' needs to be further investigated. This study aimed to test the effects of exposure to a natural lagoon environment on craving and measures of wellbeing in SUD patients in comparison to exposure to an urban environment. Twenty-four SUD patients were divided into three groups of eight participants and exposed to two walking sessions (interspersed with a 1-week wash-out period) in a natural environment typical of the Venetian lagoon, an Urban walk, or staying at the residential center based on a Latin-square design. Before and after each session, drug craving, mood, wellbeing, agency, openness to the future, and restorativeness were assessed. The Nature walk significantly decreased craving in participants compared to their pre-walk values, and compared to craving after the Urban walk, with the latter significantly increased vs. pre-walk values. The Nature walk significantly decreased negative mood and increased wellbeing and agency. Openness to the future and restorativeness measures showed significant improvement after the Nature walk compared to the Urban walk. On the other hand, craving scores after the Urban Walk positively correlated with negative mood and a Sense of Negative Agency values and negatively correlated with wellbeing scores. Our results confirm that "nature experience" may improve mood, wellbeing, attention, stress relief, openness, and sense of being active in SUD patients. Moreover, we also showed a specific effect on drug craving-a key symptom of SUD.

Luxury Venice: The spread of touristification processes as alpha territorialisation

In Venice, Italy, peculiar forms of alpha territorialisation are triggered mainly by touristification and ‘tourism-led gentrification’ processes. Such dynamics, increasingly supported by real estate financialisation, are currently spreading from the old town towards the minor islands of the Venetian lagoon, as well as towards the mainland. These processes change the traditional relationship between the old town and its islands. At the same time, such drifts are somehow counteracted by social movements and grassroots cultural practices that often implement forms of actions towards the realisation of an alternative idea of the city. This paper argues that such processes can be interpreted as phenomena of alpha territorialisation and that this interpretation helps us understand the spatial and environmental consequences of urban socio-economic restructuring processes.

Laure Prouvost’s Deep See Blue Surrounding You

This paper aims to demonstrate how Laure Prouvost’s artistic practice requires an immersion of the viewer in intermedial installations composed of objects from the most disparate spatial and temporal origins. Since the early 2000s, the French artist has intentionally created surreal mise-en-scenes which, by blending video, painting, drawing, sculpture, and performance, can be understood as compositions or collages made of visual references taken from different contexts such as pop culture, the web, and private photo albums. Prouvost’s works are “unstable visual entities,” made of images that aggregate in heterogeneous configurations, generating eccentric atmospheres and cancelling every hierarchical order between the observer and the observed. Viewers are encouraged to fill the space by becoming objects among other objects. By using the Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) as philosophical and methodological support, this paper will focus more closely on the analysis of Deep See Blue Surrounding You / Vois Ce Bleu Profond Te Fondre (2019), the project Prouvost produced for the French Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale. On this occasion, her work They Parlaient Idéale (2019) – a video documenting the Mediterranean Sea journey that brings her to the Venetian lagoon – was the cornerstone of a multifaceted environmental installation. Assuming a critical and analytical approach, this contribution then discusses the role Deep See Blue Surrounding You plays as a “hyper-enactment:” it is a mise-en-scene that consists of interrelationships between “things/images” that aggregate as objects, but it is also a composition in which the viewers are “viscously” asked to generate their personal, non-linear narration.

The Recovery of Disused Waterways as Blue Corridors: The Battaglia Canal between Padua and the Venetian Lagoon

The management of surface freshwater bodies can be considered one of the most important issues affecting the quality of living spaces in the industrialised world. Today's awareness of the importance of sustainable water management includes the artificial canals built over centuries to meet multiple and different needs. The development of railways in the 19th century and the extraordinary spread of road transport after World War II led to the steady abandonment of historic canals all over Europe and the consequent deterioration of their water quality and corridor spaces. This deterioration, in turn, led to socio-cultural conflicts over the spaces and the necessity/desirability of maintaining them in the late 20th century. In recent years the benefits provided by blue-green infrastructure in terms of biodiversity, new socio-economical opportunities and the improvement of the well-being and mental health of their users has been acknowledged by scholars and policy makers in the European Union and elsewhere. The article analyses the territorialisation of the Battaglia Canal in Italy’s northwestern Veneto region, between Padua (Padova) and the Venetian Lagoon and its broader canalscape that has resulted from different adminsitrative and planning processes and the manner in which changes in socio-environmental perceptions has influenced approaches to managing the canal. Building on this, the article raises issues concerning the management of the canal and proposes some perspectives for a multifunctional recovery and a sustainable valourisation of it as a social and environmental asset.

Lagoon Wanderings: Boat hydro-perspectivism in the aquapelagic assemblage of the Venetian Lagoon

In this article I conduct the reader along a journey that follows different waterways within the Venetian lagoon and provides insights into the water-land interactions of this unique aquapelagic assemblage. Leveraging the methodological tool of hydro-perspectivism, I situate the analytical standpoint within two very different kinds of boat: the vaporetto (a local waterbus) and the kayak. The first, native to the lagoon, gives voice to a sample of the massive population of tourists that constantly crowds the lagoon’s islands and waters. Navigating the congested waterways leading from the Lido littoral to Venice’s historical centre, I raise issues such as over-tourism, water quality, and wave motion. Shifting the perspective to the kayak, a type of boat that originates in Inuit culture and is perfectly suited to the lagoon's shallow waters, the article then investigates the potentialities of analysing from the water’s edge, considering other serious problems of the Venetian aquapelago, such as pollution and hydro-morphological alterations. In conclusion, I argue that by conceiving the boat as not only as a means of transport but also as a means of acquiring and formulating knowledge, it is possible to revitalise hydrophilic feelings and thus the precious aquapelagic identity of Venice’s lagoon that has been in decline over the last century.

Poetic foundations for watery terrain – three poems below Venice

The Venetian lagoon is a geographical extremity imperilled by extreme weather events. Increasingly regular flooding endangers the lives and livelihoods of Venetians, not to mention the built and natural environments around them. In response to the documentary film Saving Venice (Bulling, 2022), I have produced a short series of poems that address the existential threat that climate change poses to Venice. The first poem refers to the MOSE sea-gates project, a feat of engineering designed to prevent catastrophic flooding of the lagoon. The second takes up the motif of the foundations of Venice, specifically the use of wooden pylons that excise oxygen and moisture and prevent the city from sinking. The third poem deals with the effects of erosion caused by shipping. This poetic work builds upon my previous creative and critical output focussed on Venice as a liminal and literary space, notable for the in-between-ness that comes from being a city built on water (Venzo, 2015; Venzo 2019; Venzo 2022). Extending this scholarship on Venice as a city both real and imagined through writing, these poems represent this watery terrain as simultaneously poetic and ecological (Bryson, 2002). Using the technique of concrete poetry (Draper, 1971; Bray, 2012), each poem syncretises these hidden elements that speak to the effects of extremity, to address the “slipperiness” of this physical environment and construct new foundations in word and image.

Medical emergencies throughout the Venetian lagoon: the peculiar reality of the Venetian Urgent and Emergency Medical Service on water ambulances.

Medical emergencies throughout the Venetian lagoon: the peculiar reality of the Venetian Urgent and Emergency Medical Service on water ambulances.

Late antique and early medieval glass from the northern Venetian lagoon: New data from the archaeological site of Jesolo

Accurate microchemical characterisation was performed on a 4th-12th-century repertoire of coloured and colourless glass samples found in the archaeological excavation of Jesolo (ancient Equilus, northern Italy).The research aimed to improve the state-of-the-art knowledge of early medieval glass, through the characterisation of a stratigraphically very well-dated and homogeneous glass collection, further representing a unicum in the area of the western upper Adriatic.A representative sampleset of sixty-seven glass finds -including vessels, windows, tesserae and blocks of raw glass- was investigated by electron microprobe (EMPA) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). All samples are classified as soda-lime-silica glass made of impure sands and natron. In most cases, glass colour is imparted by iron naturally present in the sands, often counteracted by varying levels of manganese. The collection also includes numerous Co– and Cu-coloured glass. Colourless glass is Mn-decoloured or, to a lesser extent, Mn/Sb-decoloured. The proportion between fresh and recycled glass is almost equal. The provenance investigation has established that while Levantine imports are numerically limited, most materials can be traced back to the Egyptian area. Among the twelve samples assigned to the Levantine area, both Jalame-type and Apollonia-type glass has been identified in an almost equal percentage. Among Egyptian glass, a consistent group of 22 samples has been straightforwardly assigned to the HIMTa and, to a lesser extent, HIMTb groups. Both group 2.1 and 3.2 are clearly attested in almost equal amounts but individually less frequent than HIMT.

New insights on the Venice high-water phenomenon through a maximum negentropy criterium

A multiparametric analysis of the sea level oscillations in the Venetian lagoon (Italy) is performed in order to study a period in which the Venice lagoon system experiences excited states without becoming predominant in the dynamics of the system. We report the results relative to 2008, for which the Relative Sea Level time evolution is well balanced between stationary states and excited states (when high-water episodes can occur). The interest is devoted to the high-water phenomenon in order to give indications on the generating dynamical system. Looking at time scales of the order of 7 days, the application of the spectral analysis and a high-order decomposition method allows the identification and extraction of diurnal, semidiurnal, ter-diurnal, and sometimes quarter-diurnal tides. The ratio among the constituents’ amplitudes as a function of the meteorological forcing, together with the extraction of the quarter-diurnal, evidence some nonlinearity in high-water occurrence. A conceptual model is proposed that takes into account the nonlinearity evidenced in the system. The extracted tidal constituents are seen as globally organized oscillations generated by a self-oscillating system showing a behaviour like the flue musical instruments, with a non-trivial relation between amplitude and frequency. The stationary state (no high-water) and the anomalous tides can be seen as different states of such a nonlinear system.

Glacial isostatic adjustment in the northern adriatic region: estimates of the contribution from the Alpine ice sheet

SUMMARY The present-day sea-level variations and vertical movements in the northern Adriatic Sea and in the highly vulnerable Venetian Lagoon result from a number of simultaneously operating contributions. These include Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), the global, long-term process arising from interactions between the cryosphere, the solid Earth and the oceans in response to the melting of continental ice sheets. Although the GIA contribution in northern Adriatic Sea has been the subject of various investigations so far, significant uncertainties still exist, especially related to the extent and chronology of the Würm Alpine ice sheet and to the rheological profile of the mantle. Here, taking advantage of the recent publication of updated deglaciation chronologies for the far field late-Pleistocene ice sheets and for the near-field alpine ice complex, we produce up-to-date estimates of the present-day rates of GIA-induced relative sea-level variations and vertical displacements in the Venetian Lagoon and in the northern Adriatic Sea, which are compared with GNSS and tide-gauge observations. From high-resolution numerical simulations, we find that GIA is responsible for a complex pattern of geodetic signals across the Po plain and the northern Adriatic Sea. The modeled GIA rates are of the order of fractions of mm yr−1, generally small – but not negligible – compared to the signals observed at local tide gauges and at GNSS sites in the Po plain and facing the Venetian Lagoon. Our results indicate that, while GIA represents a relatively small component among those responsible for present-day land movements and relative sea-level variations in the northern Adriatic Sea, its contribution needs to be taken into account for a correct interpretation of the observed geodetic variations.

Cultural Encounter, Race, and a Humanist Ideology of Empire in the Art of Trecento Venice

Cultural Encounter, Race, and a Humanist Ideology of Empire in the Art of Trecento Venice

ALTINO, A MEETING POINT BETWEEN THE RIVERS AND THE LAGOON: MATERIALS AND BUILDING TECHNIQUES OF A CITY BUILT ON WATER

Altino, located at the edge of Po valley and on the northern margin of the Venetian lagoon, was an important Venetic settlement since 8th century B.C. The town, already a marketplace, from the 2nd century B.C., became an important port during the Roman time. From the 6th and 7th centuries, the area of Altino was starting to be abandoned.
 From a literature review focused on the city of Altino, it is possible to realize the lack of studies focused on the architectural aspects of the buildings. Due to the residual structural evidence belonging to the buildings, founded often at a foundation or under foundation level, these haven’t been studied from an architectural technique point of view. Although the impossibility of direct observation of the data, the pictures of the excavation together with the excavation descriptions make it possible. How deep was the knowledge of the constructors about the characteristics of their environment? How they solved the problem of the marsh area where Altino was settled? The particular geomorphological context where the city of Altino was funded made the roman constructors take crucial decisions as to resettle the prior urban center, excavating channels to reclaim the land. This implied the constructions of roads, Annia and Claudia Augusta, enclosed by artificial canals, those departed from the city to reach the other main centers of the region, as Padova, Concordia, Oderzo, and Aquileia. The characteristics of the soil imposed the use of the “under-foundation” which involved preparation of the soil to make it adequate to construct a building on it without any risk of collapsing. The material used to set the soil is stilts, horizontal planks, hydraulic reclaim with amphora, levels of gravel and clay. The study of the material used for the construction, both stone or other type (wood, gravel,..), and of the building techniques, that hide the knowledge and the expertise of the workers, let us understand the capacity of the artisans and the relationship between the resources of the territory itself.
 Altino well summarised an example of a mixture between the cognition of the environment owned by the local population and the technology capability owned by Romans, who could adapt to settle and construct in any geomorphological context.

Titian and textile

Abstract This essay presents the first critical overview of the collection and display of art objects acquired by the Venetian nobleman Andrea di Nicolò Loredan (1450–1513). It focuses on the decoration of three key sites maintained by the Loredan clan: the governor’s palace in Brescia, the location and contents of which are here identified for the first time; the Loredan palace on the Grand Canal in Venice; and the Loredan funerary chapel in the church of San Michele in Isola in the Venetian lagoon. Examination of Titian’s grandiose easel painting the ‘Flight into Egypt’ (c.1507), recently discovered to have played a crucial role within the Loredan palace, helps to elucidate the range of material and devotional agendas of the art possessed by Andrea. Critical reconstruction of the Loredan collection is achieved through fresh attention to archival records, and a little-known panegyric (1504) by the Brescian friar Martino Codagnello.

Effect of Mo.S.E. Closures on Wind Waves in the Venetian Lagoon: In Situ and Numerical Analyses

In the Venetian lagoon, the storm surge barriers (Mo.S.E. system) are crucial to prevent urban flooding during extreme stormy events. The inlet closures have some cascading effects on the hydrodynamics and sediment transports of this shallow tidal environment. The present study aims at investigating the effects of the Mo.S.E. closure on the wind-wave propagation inside the lagoon. In situ wave data were collected to establish a unique dataset of measurements recorded in front of San Marco square between July 2020 and December 2021, i.e., partially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten storm events were analyzed in terms of significant wave heights and simultaneous wind characteristics. This dataset allowed for validating a spectral wave model (SWAN) applied to the whole lagoon. The results show that the floodgate closures, which induce an artificial reduction of water levels, influence significant wave heights HS, which decrease on average by 22% compared to non-regulated conditions, but in the shallower areas (for example tidal flats and salt marshes), the predicted decrease is on average 48%. Consequently, the analysis suggests that the Mo.S.E. closures are expected to induce modifications in the wave overtopping, wave loads and lagoon morphodynamics.

Impact of Anthropogenic Activities on Underwater Noise Pollution in Venice

We illustrate the implementation and results of a field experiment, consisting of recording continuous signal from a hydrophone 3 m deep in the Venetian lagoon. We simultaneously recorded audio signal through a microphone placed on a nearby pier. We investigate the potential of this simple instrumental setup to explore the small touristic boat traffic contribution to the underwater noise. The ultimate goal of our work is to contribute to quantifying underwater noise pollution due to motorboat passages and its impact on the ecosystem. Efforts such as ours should help to identify measures that could diminish noise pollution, focusing specifically on the aspects that are most disruptive to underwater life. After this preliminary test, more work can be planned, involving the deployment of a larger network of similar instruments around the lagoon. At this point, we can conclude that (i) our instruments are sensitive enough to detect motorboats and identify some of their characteristics; (ii) the area of interest is characterized by a large (approx. 20 dB) day/night difference in ambient noise; and (iii) the historic center of Venice and its immediate surroundings are particularly noisy, in comparison to other similarly studied locations.

Venetian Lagoon Mussel Farming Between Tradition and Innovation An Example of Changes in Perception and Multispecies Relations

In Venetian lagoon, mussels as a food, together with technical innovations and new knowledge for their exploitation, are a recent discovery. In the past, the lagoon’s fishers considered them inedible. The first mussel farming was launched in 1939 and mussels began a new process of rehabilitation. It is the beginning of a new relationship. Mussels turn themselves into delicate animals that need care and fishers develop new interactions with the other non-human components of the environment. A mutual relationship (or inter-agentivity) is created between mussel farmers and mussels, and it brings undeniable advantages to both species.

A Spatial Structure Variable Approach to Characterize Storm Events for Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment

Over the last decades, the evaluation of hazards and risks associated with coastal flooding has become increasingly more important in order to protect population and assets. The general purpose of this research was to assess reliable coastal flooding hazard maps due to overflow and wave overtopping. This paper addresses the problem of defining credible joint statistics of significant wave heights Hs and water levels ζ, focusing on the selection of the sample pair that characterizes each sea storm, to evaluate the occurrence probability of extreme events. The pair is selected maximizing a spatial structure variable, i.e., a linear combination of Hs and ζ, specific to each point of the area at risk. The structure variable is defined by the sensitivity of the flooding process to Hs and ζ, as found by analyzing a set of inundation maps produced through a Simplified Shallow-Water numerical model (SSW). The proposed methodology is applied to a coastal stretch in the Venetian littoral (Italy), by means of a 30 year-long time series recorded at the “Acqua Alta” oceanographic research tower, located in the Northern Adriatic Sea in front of the Venetian lagoon. The critical combination of Hs and ζ forming the structure variable is presented in a map, and it can be related to the topography and the presence of mitigation measures. The return period associated with the two recent large storms that occurred in this area in 2018 and 2019 is also investigated. The proposed procedure gives credible occurrence probabilities for these events, whereas other approaches would consider them extremely unlikely.

Floods in the Venetian Lagoon and Their Causes

Floods in the Venetian Lagoon and Their Causes

An Island for Everyone: Poveglia as contested public space in the Venetian Lagoon

This article focuses on the story of the proposed privatisation of Poveglia, a small uninhabited island in the Venetian Lagoon. In March 2014 the Italian State Property Office announced that a 99-year lease on Poveglia would be offered for sale in an online auction. The reaction of some citizens led to the formation of the association Poveglia per Tutti (Poveglia for Everyone), whose activists and supporters wanted the island to be preserved as a public space and blocked the acquisition. The article firstly frames Poveglia in the processes that are particular to the small islands of the Venetian Lagoon, from abandonment to tourism-related ‘land grabbing’, and then contextualises the story of this minor island in a more general discussion regarding broader ‘right to the island’ narratives and practices with reference to some other European cases. Finally, the article presents the results of a an ethnographically informed analysis of the association Poveglia per Tutti to discuss the capacity and potentialities of some small islands - as separate, limited, and identifiable spaces - to be part of territorialisation processes dealing with active citizenship, resistance to tourist monoculture and the usability of public space. In this way, Poveglia becomes a synecdoche for the whole of Venice and its lagoon, ‘condensing’, at the same time, local and global dynamics.