The Venice and its Lagoon UNESCO site (Italy): Cultural Heritage and Climate Change

The contribution illustrates the outcomes of the research “Deepening the Impacts of Climate Change on Venice's Monumental Heritage”. This activity was carried out to integrate the various studies conducted in recent years by the Iuav University of Venice, the outcomes of the CORILA Venezia2021 research and the general aspects of the Venice Climate Change Adaptation Plan, as well as in coordination with the contents of the UNESCO, ICOMOS International and Europa Nostra documents and with other national (PNIEC, PNAC, PTE) and EU documents. The analysis of impacts and risks to cultural heritage is provided both with regard to the effects of gradual changes in climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, etc.) and with regard to possible damages caused by extreme events (floods, heavy rain, prolonged drought periods). The effects considered to be potentially more damaging were associated with risks/threats for macro morphological/typological categories of cultural assets identified in the existing cultural heritage, also considering the effects of activating the MOSE system. The analytical campaigns also involved several Iuav laboratories such as Lama, FisTec and Geomatics CIRCE. The conclusion of the research saw the elaboration of a series of actions to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change, calibrated taking into account the characteristics of the assets belonging to the different macro-categories identified, and referable to both the punctual intervention and the preventive conservation plan, aimed at increasing specific resilience. The proposed actions are aimed at guaranteeing not only the effectiveness of the solutions, but also the material and formal compatibility of the different expressions of historic lagoon buildings.
Keywords: Venice; cultural heritage; climate change; risk; intervention