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| Christmas in Venice 2022 - Photo by Cat Bauer |
(Venice, Italy) Venice is full of light this Christmas. From the twinkling lights in Piazza San Marco to the sparkly smiles of the locals as we greet each other in the street, the Christmas season is serene and full of tides of good cheer -- not tides of acqua alta and flood waters of destruction.
Just three years ago, in November 2019, Venice was hit by a disastrous flood. Then, in February 2020, came the global pandemic. Shop windows brimming with traditional Venetian masks of mystery and seduction were usurped by sterile hospital masks that covered the noses and mouths of pedestrians in the streets. (It will be interesting to see if Venetian artisans have found new inspiration after the most recent quarantine to incorporate another dimension into their 2023 Carnevale repertoire.)
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| The Four Black & White Aquitaine Marble Columns of the Portal of San Pietro Basilica of San Marco, Venice - Photo: Cat Bauer |
Looking Far to the Future: San Marco - The Basilica of Venice in the Third Millennium
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| MOSE - Consorzio Venezia Nuova via AP |
And MOSE, one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the world, actually functions when no one believed it ever would, including me. The underwater gates of MOSE astonishingly rise up to protect the rest of the city from flooding during high tides. I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that humans engineered an underwater wall that surfaces to hold back the angry force of the Adriatic Sea and floats back down when the mission is accomplished.
At Christmas -- as at all times -- Venice is a gift to humanity filled with treasures and wisdom. Remember to be gentle with the wrapping paper when you open your gift.
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
Venice has miraculously recovered after each calamity the gods want to fling at her.
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