The liners will no longer be able to approach the iconic Saint Mark's Square in Venice and will for the moment be forced to anchor at the industrial port of the city, the Italian government announced on Thursday.
Read also: AstraZeneca: 29 million doses of vaccine found in Italy, Brussels asks for explanations
It is a decision taken
"in order to protect a cultural and historical heritage which belongs not only to Italy, but to the whole world"
, declared the Ministers of Culture, Tourism, Environment and Infrastructures, in a joint press release.
They stressed that the industrial port represented a
"temporary"
solution
and
"launched a call for contributions"
to find
"a definitive solution to the problem of the circulation of large ships in Venice"
by creating a new terminal outside the lagoon of the historic city.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the liners poured millions of visitors to Venice every year, still further weakening the historic city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.