The construction of the new navigation channel “Contorta” would bring the main industrial and commercial channel, “canale dei petroli”, into the heart of the city of Venice. This would reduce the lagoon’s natural defences and subject it to the combined pressures of water masses arriving from the lido and malamocco inlets, which are the two largest sea-mouths between the adriatic and the lagoon. The consequences would be irreversible(and include more frequent flooding of Venice and more rapid decay of the urban fabric, along with impacts on the lagoon biodiversity and resilience). We are against dredging the Contorta canal because it would be damaging to Venice and the lagoon. We therefore request that the plan is immediately withdrawn while all the available alternatives for managing cruise traffic in Venice are considered and compared.

We express, last but not least, the conviction that it must be the City of Venice to decide on a question that so directly concerns its future, and that city representatives are no longer treated like undesired onlookers!