The repeated flooding of Venice this year, with super high-tides just before Christmas, only a month after repeated November disasters, carries much longer-term damage than ruined stock in stores and lost hotel reservations. Experts are concerned about the effects of salt, more than water, on fragile buildings.
Not to minimize the other losses, which some say will total over €1 billion, with hotelkeepers adding up €40 million in lost reservations, but the damage that meets the eye after the waters recede is only skin-deep, while more lasting damage may result from immersion in salt water.
Carlo Alberto Teseserin, the man responsible for the maintenance of Saint Mark’s Basilica, warns that the church’s famed mosaics, gold leaf and even the stones themselves are in danger. This year’s floods, though just shy of record depths, accompanied by high winds that kept the water from receding, allowing more time for salt to be absorbed by the marble and brick of the structure,
As the water dries, the salt crystals expand, making space for themselves by weakening the material. An official pointed out that “Even at a height of 12 meters we have salt that comes out, that crystallizes.”
Ironically, the basilica, built atop the remains of its two predecessors, is located at one of the city’s lowest spots, although when it was built nearly a thousand years ago, that spot was picked as one of the safest. But over the centuries land has subsided, and in the past 50 years alone, sea level has risen 12 centimetres.
