Read this post in its original published form here on The Quad

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by Thea Di Giammerino

Venice, Italy is often referred to as the sinking city. A mercantile island originally intended to provide refuge from invaders, the city flourished in a location where no one would have planned a settlement.

According to NOVA, a PBS program, when Venice was originally settled, sea level was more than six feet lower than it is today. Venetians have been unable to live in ground floor apartments for decades, because they never know when a high tide could flood the city.

As Professor Jodi Cranston of Boston University’s Department of Art History put it, Venice may have never been meant to last. Despite that, the city is working fervently to save itself through a variety of projects, from building and art restoration to creating massive floodgates to prevent high tides from flooding…