St Mark’s Basilica was flooded by the high tidal waters of last year
After the disastrous flooding in November 2019, plans have been proposed to erect a 1.2 metre glass barrier around St Mark’s Basilica in order to protect it against damage from future acqua alta flooding. Officials in the city are worried that the iconic building will not be able withstand another inundation – the Basilica’s beautiful floor mosaics were covered in sewage, and the crypt damaged by corrosive saltwater in November’s record floods. “The damage we can see now is nothing compared to that within the walls. The salt enters the marble, the bricks, everywhere”, said Carlo Alberto Tesserin, primo procuratore of the Basilica, and president of the team responsible for managing the site. “We said [in 2018] that the Basilica had aged 20 years in a high tide. It risks having aged much more than that in this one”, he told news agency AFP following the most recent floods.