Handout | The Anthropocene Waterscapes of Venice
Chapter | The Industrial Terraforming of the Lagoon
The Industrial Terraforming of the Lagoon
Abstract
This contribution explores the industrial transformation of the Venetian Lagoon and its surrounding river basins, examining how large-scale infrastructural interventions, from Roman centuriation to twentieth-century hydroelectric and petrochemical developments, reshaped this complex intertidal ecosystem. Centred on the creation of Porto Marghera and the role of actors such as Count Giuseppe Volpi and the SADE company, it traces the lagoon’s evolution into a machinic, energy-intensive landscape. The text highlights how modern industrial ideologies and interventions, including the controversial MOSE project, have compromised ecological balance, contributing to pollution, biodiversity loss, and altered hydrodynamics. By contrasting these legacies with emergent, unintended ecological niches – like those in the Casse di Colmata – the paper advocates for rethinking Venice’s hydroscape through submerged, multi-species perspectives. It argues that this historical-ecological reading can inform more sustainable futures amid climate change and anthropogenic pressures.
Published June 10, 2025 | Language: en
Copyright © 2025 Elena Longhin. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-933-7/005
