Category: blog

I am taking inspiration from recent events in order to talk about Venice, the Venetian lagoon and sustainable tourism.

In recent months there has been a lot of talk about Venice, high water (high tide correctly) and lagoon. The extent of the last high water made more evident than ever how a great and dangerous change is taking place. Taking into account sustainability is now something we owe to the environment. And to Venice as well.

Well, I am not an expert and I do not want to talk about things I do not know. What I want is to reassure all friends, especially foreigners: no, there is no risk of drowning. Unless you swim in the canal, or jump off a bridge, but this goes under the name of imbecility. At most, if you like walking barefoot in the high water you could meet a pantegana (big, big rat) and get the “samoro nero” (distemper) otherwise it’s all right, you can continue to visit Venice. I am joking… but this is to highlight some tourists’ bad behaviours . A little more respect would be really appreciated. Ok, I am a bit mean but we all have – as human beings – our faults towards Venice and towards the planet.

Once again I need to start from the high water and from all the controversies that have arisen for the fundraising launched by an Italian TV. The perception is “in Venice they are all rich”. I do not have any evidence of that and, just to make it clear “Venice is a world heritage site” that’s it. The funding went to Pellestrina,  which is a part of Venice, but certainly it is not in the historic center. There is a whole world that lies outside the well known tourist destinations. A beautiful and (almost …) uncontaminated world, a natural environment that must be enhanced and visited, always with a great respect . We need to preserve it.

This is just the prelude for telling a story of a different environment, with its own poetry. An environment that in my opinion gives its best in the winter period when, with a clear sky, the mountains embrace the sea. Today we will visit a small part of the Venetian lagoon which is part of the Cavallino Treporti tourist park

Lio Piccolo

Only a few people are here in winter. It is a bit difficult to find a restaurant where to eat, but the scenery is absolutely amazing and you can settle for a sandwich. So here we are to discover Lio Piccolo

Lio Piccolo a village in the lagoon, thus reads the tourist information sign. It is actually a tiny little village. Some houses, Palazzo Boldù, the Church of Santa Maria della Neve, the bell tower. Picturesque, but its main strength is the landscape of the lagoon, the labyrinth of canals and the quiet reigning everywhere

Thanks to this peace, pink flamingos have returned – or maybe they have just arrived, I don’t know-. Flamingos are not the only species living there. In the whole area there are a lot of birds, we saw many egrets and herons. We were able to see flamingos only from a distance. It was too late to attempt to get closer as the sun was going down. We will try again.

And it is precisely at sunset that the colors become spectacular. It’s a triumph of light and shadow, the red of the sky reflected on the water, a fishing net that is “in the shadow of the last sun”

The lagoon and sustainability

Isn’t it worth moving a bit from Venice to admire what surrounds it? Venice without the lagoon would not exist. The lagoon is a complex system that must be preserved, enhanced and people must be aware of it. And above all they must respect it. High water, indeed granda as the one in November, is only one of the problems that made the world discover how fragile Venice is. But there are other too. Just as an example: the increase of the water temperature of the lagoon and the consequent change in fish fauna. Climate change, climate crisis are issues that we have already discussed in Q11 but it is worth mentioning them again.

As an association we like to let people know about our territory and the Italian territory in general . We strongly believe in sustainable tourism. A slow tourism that moves on foot or by bicycle. And these areas of the lagoon are more than suitable – we expect (only) people to be respectful. We don’t ask for much. So let’s take a walk in Venice and Venetian lagoon. Enjoy your walk! Have fun, walk and listen to the silence

All you need is  a flower – 100 hours for the environment.

This is the title of the event developed  thanks to the “stubbornness” of Movimento Caparbia, and a bit of our stubbornness too- , a really “big” event that brings together conferences, music, culture and recreational activities.

It will take place from June 5 to June 9 in the area of “terraferma” which is not far from Venice: Marghera and Mestre

The events of last October and November, which brought considerable damage to the Venetian forest heritage, to the heart of Venice, to the coasts – and affected many other areas of our territory – have greatly affected us. They  have added greater evidence to what we have already under our eyes for several years.

Climate change, air pollution, in particular the area of ​​the Po valley, the accumulation of waste, the depletion of natural resources, the melting of glaciers, the summer drought are some of the many alarm bells for the state of the environment.

We have decided to do something and have therefore brought together the forces of  Progetto Re-Cycle and Movimento Caparbia. In a short time we have managed to organize this  awareness-raising event. “All you need is a flower – 100 hours for the environment –

The program

When: from 5 to 9 June 2019

Where:

Negozio Piave 67

Al Vapore

Birkenau Block 25. Call me Lavinia but I have no longer a name, numbers instead. I live, if this can be called life, in block 25 in Birkenau. My block mates are numbers like me… We are going to die, we know. We are packed in this block, waiting, or no longer waiting, resigned, weak. It’s dark here, narrow windows, we can hardly breathe but I can still see the moon, a big moon, lightning the dark. There is something comforting in that light.

Now I am beyond the ground I am a tree, I am moon, I keep the distance from all this cruelty and sadness. I am free.

The house is silent. The wind on my branches just seems a breath of clouds on an extinguishing fire. I’m alone again.
A cycle has been completed: my destiny of seed that has sprouted, the design of my ancestors.
Lavinia is now earth and humus. Her  spirit dancing in the evening wind (translated from the Italian version of The Inhabited Woman by Gioconda Belli) 

I did not know how to start a post about Birkenau and I decided to let a woman talk. Why a woman?

Waiting room for the gas

Block 25  was known as “waiting room for the gas” and it was a female block. When visiting Birkenau I gave a quick glance at the block, to be honest I gave a quick glance to everything, I felt a certain burden. The most horrible and incredible feeling was perceiving a rather “normal” aspect of that place when you are outside.

There was even a beautiful sunset to highlight the “normal” aspect. And then I took the picture of the ruins of the crematory, If I hadn’t written what it was,  nobody would have understood and it would have been “a beautiful landscape with moon”.

I was hit by my own picture, then the wind came and it reminded me of The Inhabited Woman and the orange tree

All of a sudden  the shapeless prisoners acquired Lavinia’s shape and I realized that I was watching the very same moon that women in block 25 saw.

And then I started singing in my mind La vita è bella. If you haven’t seen the movie by Roberto Benigni yet, now it is time to see it

Already published on the Local Guides Connect platform. The article is not part of the themes of Associazione Progetto Re-Cycle. It is our contribution to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. All picures A.Grana