Site Visit Objectives:
To know the fragile ecosystem of the Venetian Lagoon, its strengths, weakness and human impacts on it.
To visit some of the main islands of the Lagoon of Venice

 

Information:
"Element opposes element". This is how Bernardo Trevisan described the lagoon in 1718, as an environment subject to the actions of different forces, natural or man-made, which oppose one another.
The lagoon is in fact a wetland coastal area in a continual state of instability which communicates with the sea through openings, or inlets, in such a way that the movement of water inside it is governed by the tide. In this way, lagoon morphology depends on the relationship between the amounts of solid material brought by the sea or the rivers and the erosive forces of waves and seas. Communication between the lagoon and the sea guarantees, among other things, the survival of the lagoon and its unique brackish water environment. The physical shape of the lagoon is modified and formed through the daily entrance and exit of the sea through the lagoon inlets. The sea can also be considered one of the main risk factors involved in the evolution of the lagoon basin, especially if the erosive actions of wave motion and coastal currents predominate over the build up of sediment accumulation. About 78% of the lagoon surface is covered by vast expanses of water which are cut by a dense network of channels of varying depth. The sea and the lagoon are connected through the three inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. The land system of the lagoon territory is made up of all of dry land, natural or artificial (coastal strips, reclaimed areas, islands and banks), and represents about 8% of the overall surface area of the lagoon. The remaining 92% is made up of the water system which includes canals (11.9%) and shallows, mud flats and salt marshes (80.1%).

Salt marshes are important because of their role in regulating lagoon hydrodynamics. They are consistent ground areas which are almost always above water and are only sometimes submerged. They enhance water exchange, lessen the action of wave motion and provide a home for both a wide variety of vegetation (typical of brackish water areas) and for a wide variety of bird life

Mud flats are areas with no vegetation which are normally underwater, emerging only during particular tidal conditions (low tides during spring tide cycles), they are soft land areas.

MOSE Project (Modulo Elettromeccanico – Experimental Electromechanical Module) is a project intended to protect the city of Venice. Is an integrated defence system consisting of rows of mobile gates able to isolate the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea when the tide reaches above an established level (110 cm) and up to a maximum of 3 m. Together with other complementary measures such as coastal reinforcement, the raising of quaysides and paving and improvement of the lagoon environment, these barriers will protect the city of Venice from extreme events such as the floods and from morphological degradation. Work on the project has been underway since 2003 at the three lagoon inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia, the gaps connecting the lagoon with the sea and through which the tide ebbs and flows.