Friday, November 26, 2010

Recent Photos of Acqua Alta

photos by Bryan Kemper

Some friends of mine were in Venice for a day, earlier this month.  While I'm not a fan of the Venice-in-a-day approach, one day there is better than none.

Because they were there in November, my friends witnessed the wonders of "Acqua Alta".  I tried to explain to them that it's a unique thing for outsiders to experience, but I don't think they bought it.
The singular response was that it was cool for the first five minutes, after that it was a pain in the butt!
I think they understand Venice's high-water phenomenon pretty well.

 Water rises in the Piazza as people take to the "high ground" while they can.

 Walking the boards.

Most folks don't crowd around the architecture during "Acqua Alta",
but if you've got the right footwear, no problem.

5 comments:

Tamás said...

I think acqua alta must be immense fun, just tell people about RATTI in advance! That's the place to buy rubber shoes in Venice. They have some nice ones, not just green or grey.

The photo with the tourist herd packed in the middle of Piazza San Marco is quite similar to wildlife in time of a flood (when the stag reportedly shares the same mound with wolfs in total peace).

Yet there is one thing I can't grasp: the frequent acqua alta phenomenon has been going on for maybe four decades in Venice, every autumn-winter season. If so, why aren't the raised walkboard paths mechanized and permanently installed into the pavement in EVERY potentially affected calle and campo?

They could be deployed in minutes by the press of a button, just like MOSE. Losing maybe 25-35 half day revenue due to high water event is a significant grievance for the cash-strapped city.

Maybe such robotic pathway equipment would look non-traditional, but keeping the city open for tourism is revenue.

staff said...

Message dedicated to all those idiots that think acqua alta is funny.
Just follow the following easy steps:
1- Go home, close all the sinks' drainpipes and turn all watertaps on
2- drive to a shopping center and wait about two hours (three is better)
3- drive back home
4- HAVE FUN
(Nereo)

Tamás said...

Sometimes even the locals have fun like this and this.

Furthermore there is nothing one can do against the influx of acqua alta (short of the MOSE dam system, which about 2/3rd of venetians appear to oppose).

Therefore it makes no sense to get angry at the inevitable, better look at its enjoyable side!

I heard acqua alta cannot occur when the seawater is very cold, so it's always possible to wade in the tide?

Bepi Venexiano said...

Even when complete MOSE won't be activated unless there is an extreme acqua alta. That means that flooding like we see recently will continue.

Tamás said...

2010.dec.03: the morning acqa alta reached 136cm at the city center, highest for this year. Surrounding islands were even worse affected!