Venice is one of the major destinations for Mediterranean cruises with around 600 large ships passing each year through its Giudecca Canal, awing passengers with picturesque views of the city's 15th century St. Mark's square and Doges Palace.
Early this year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee issued a warning that it will be listing the entire city of Venice as an endangered place. The Telegraph UK reports, "Venice will be placed on Unesco's list of endangered heritage sites if Italy fails to ban giant cruise ships from the city's lagoon by 2017."
Local governments to date and in previous years have already tried banning the large cruise ships but always failed because it is one of the ways the city is getting its 1 million tourists annually, boosting the economy.
But critics believe that these floating behemoths are actually causing Venice more harm than good. They claimed that the large ships are aesthetically deleterious and worried that another disaster similar to Costa Concordia's sinking could cause irreparable damage to the city's ancient architecture.
In addition, they are anxious that these giant ships are damaging the delicate, salt-corroded groundwork of Venice City, which are currently requiring relentless attention to keep it from sinking.
In fact, last Sep. 25, local newspaper La Nuova di Venezia, published an article wherein a dozen undersized pirate boats floated across Venice City's Giudecca Canal, waiting to face the incoming big cruise ship passing by.
Venetian sailors dressed up as pirates donning ripped vests, tri-corner hats, and eye patches. The crowd, which amassed to around 1,000 gathered at the canal's edge chanting, "Get big boats out of the lagoon!" or "No to big boats!"
In lieu, Venetian musicians were also wearing pirate costumes while playing instruments in their floating stage and shouting slogans protesting the entry of cruise ships in the area.
