Venice Rising: Aqua Granda, Pandemic, Rebirth

Venice, a city with 1200 years of tenacity and grace under her belt, is not new to struggle. From her earliest beginnings, she has endeavored to wrestle an existence out of a Lagoon that both protects and punishes her. In recent years, the wakes of cruise ships have battered her fragile stones as tourism and economic realities have driven local Venetians out of the city.

Then the aqua granda of 2019 flooded the calli and campi, nearly carrying Venetian fortitude away on its outgoing tides. A soggy, somber winter led way to a hopeful spring, when the pandemic lockdown appeared to strike the final blow.

Or did it? In April, as an elegant double rainbow arched its way over the marbled city, Venetians put on their masks and got to work, dreaming up a new Venice. Read their stories, letters, poems, posters, and conversations that ring in the vision of Venice’s rebirth.