PRIOR 25.11.2020: Presents of Mind (and Heart)
Ethical travel network PRIOR has endorsed We are here Venice as part of a recent campaign for travellers to make positive contributions to the places that they visit. WahV is highlighted as an organisation that travellers should donate to because…
ASviS Sustainable Development Festival 2020
The ASviS Sustainable Development Festival is a national awareness-raising campaign in Italy, held with the aim of spreading a culture of sustainability throughout Italy. It is part of the UN 2030 Agenda. We are here Venice teamed up with the…
BACK SOON (but better) featured in the “Laguna durante” exhibition
The participative re-visioning of WahV’s poster campaign conceived and curated by Eleonora Sovrani is featured in the solo show of Andrew Huston at Beatrice Buratti Anderson gallery in Venice. Huston produced 2 of the 31 posters made by 27 residents of…
Venice Exploratorium
Image by Annie Drew. In collaboration with Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam and Professor Caroline Nevejan (Chief Scientific Officer of Amsterdam), WahV is co-curating the Exploratorium – a multi-disciplinary outreach programme which was due to run parallel to the Dutch Pavilion…
Sorry, we are closed: Empty Venice in the early days of the COVID-19/Coronavirus precautionary “lockdown”
These photographs by Eleonora Sovrani expose the eternal beauty of the city as well as the emptiness created by the absence of tourists but also by the remarkable reduction in residents in recent years. On the other hand some of…
WahV at the Cartagena Cruise Dialogue 2020
WahV was the only NGO to take part in the Cartagena Cruise Dialogue 2020, where we presented “The Venice Paradox” – our analysis of the negative impacts cruise tourism in Venice. The abstract underlines the importance of reformulating the issue…
La Nuova Venezia 14.1.20: “Smog in Venice: Something must be done to limit water traffic”
An article written by Jack Wright And Jane da Mosto has been published in local Venetian newspaper La Nuova Venezia. The piece underlines the link between local air pollution and global climate change, as well as signalling the irony of…
RAI 16.12.2019 High Tide – Report
Italian national broadcaster RAI has explored the causes and impact of high tides in Venice, featuring an interview with Jane da Mosto. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp
Polpo London: Christmas Campaign for Venice
The Polpo restaurants in London have chosen We are here Venice as the charity to benefit from their Christmas fundraising campaign and will be generously collecting money from their diners to support our work here in Venice throughout December. Please…
Pellestrina Appeal
We are here Venice is collaborating with Palazzo Polignac to raise funds for the community of Pellestrina. Palazzo Polignac, which hosts cultural and musical events, held a fundraising concert on the 8th of December. You can help the people of…
BBC World Service report 13.11.2019: Extreme Flooding in Venice
Interviewed on the BBC World Service on 13.11.2019 about the dramatic flooding of the city. Water levels reached 1.87cm, the highest level since the devastating flood of 1966. The above image shows how quickly water levels rose up and fell again, measured…
Ethics and Digitalisation Conference 28.10.2019
Jane da Mosto spoke at a conference on Ethics and Digitalisation, held on the island of San Servolo in Venice. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp
Presentation of the book “SOS Laguna” by Luigi D’Alpaos at the Church of San Lorenzo
We are here Venice, in collaboration with Mare di Carta, organizes the presentation of the book SOS Laguna by Luigi D’Alpaos, Professor Emeritus of Hydraulics at the University of Padua, which will be held Monday, October 21 at 6pm at…
La Nuova Venezia 07.10.19 Tide Forecast and Warning Center of Venice adapts models and signs agreements with two bodies
The collaboration between WahV and the Tide Forecast and Warning Center has been made official. The aim of this cooperation is to facilitate the spread of the Center’s services and the communication of the inevitable uncertainty of forecasts, exacerbated by…
Why the future of Venice depends on the Referendum
On 18 September 2019 the High Court in Rome reversed the decision by the Veneto Region Administrative Tribunal (TAR) to allow the Mayor of Venice to block the Referendum on re-articulation of territorial administration for Venice and Mestre Marghera. WahV…
Clear communication around the cruise ships problem in Venice
WahV is satisfied with all the media contacts that have been coming through since the events of the Summer 2019, triggered by evident incapability of the authorities and governing bodies not just in Venice but nationally and globally, to reign…
The culture sector cannot ignore the underlying need for radical change
In the run-up to the 56th Venice Film Festival, the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera has joined the movement “Let the Mediterranean Breathe”, coordinated by Cittadini per l’aria ONLUS, to signal the urgency of effective policies to reduce the…
How was it for you? (2019)
La Biennale di Venezia is a global cultural event which draws the world’s gaze to Venice. How Was It For You? is an investigation into the ways in which the institution serves the interests of the city and its residents.…
Collettivo Barena Bianca
In 2018 WahV began a collaboration with the artist collective Barena Bianca, following their meeting during a workshop at IUAV Visual Arts dept. Barena Primavera-Estate Barena Primavera-Estate was a workshop produced by We are here Venice and curated by the…
Critical care: Architecture and urbanism for a broken planet (2019)
Critical Care. Architecture and urbanism for a broken planet” is a book published by MIT Press and was an exhibition at Architekturzentrum Wien edited and curated by Elke Krasny and Angelika Fitz. The book was reviewed in Architectural Digest. The book contains 21 case studies as well…
Do we know where Venice is going? a conference organized by Confartigianato, Ateneo Veneto, 15.02.2019
At a conference in February 2019 organised by Confartigianato Venezia on the future for artisan activities, the talented oar maker Saverio Pastor (president of the El Felze association) presented a particularly eloquent paper framing the identity and vocation of Venice as a…
Anchoring the debate about cruise ships
Actions are needed now Coincidentally preceding the crash of the large cruise ship MSC Opera against the dock at San Basilio on June 2, 2019 and the relative worldwide attention to the excesses of tourism, exemplified by the large ships…
The first Artist Residency at the Accademia Galleries, Venice
As conclusion of the artist’s residency, the presentation of Aurale, Brusii per audioguide After three months of his artist residency, Claudio Beorchia presented his works at the Gallerie dell’Accademia on Friday, April 12, and they will be available to the…
Why Venice?
6th December 2018, WahV speaks out regarding the OECD Conference in Venice and appeals to participating institutions to help Venice get a voice as a community. The great and the good have come together today under the auspices of the…
Venezia H20: WahV’s exciting new collaboration with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
WahV is especially delighted to be collaborating with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection under the umbrella of the Alleanza Italiana per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile. We have devised a set of six family workshops with the Guggenheim’s team of educators on the theme…
London restaurant POLPO support We are here Venice
Polpo, the popular London restaurants inspired by Venetian bacari, are hosting an evening of cocktails and cicchetti at their Notting Hill restaurant on 3rd October, with all proceeds from the event going to We are here Venice. London-based supporters can…
Implications and information gaps of the One Belt One Road project
A telephone interview for the Dutch news-site De Correspondent about the giant Chinese infrastructural project One Belt One Road and the implications for Europe brought to mind the work of Saskia Sassen on the concept of The Global City: Introducing…
Video showing the water displacement from a cruise ship prompts widespread reaction
This video, taken in the small harbour behind the Island of San Giorgio, shows the wide-reaching water displacement of a cruise ship leaving Venice as it passes Sant’Elena: The video was immediately shared over 180 times on Facebook, provoking widespread…
NBC Today filming at the Arsenale
This morning started with NBC Today in the Galleazze Ovest of the Arsenale. An opportunity to show how Venice’s glorious past can mark the way for the future IF the city authorities open the huge redundant spaces for new productive…
Laguna Viva at the V-A-C Foundation
Laguna Viva opens at the V-A-C Foundation’s Palazzo delle Zattere Laguna Viva is integral to the long-term strategy whereby Palazzo delle Zattere engage with the complexities of everyday life in Venice. V-A-C Foundation commissioned London based collective Assemble, who work across the…
Opening of Antigua & Barbuda’s National Pavilion
Students officially thanked by the Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda’s inaugural National Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale explores environmental justice as a civil right through an investigation into the acute crisis of climate change.…
Connected – A documentary project on sea level rise
The trailer for Connected, a documentary project on sea level rise, has been released featuring substantial interview material from We are here Venice’s co-founder and Executive Director, Jane da Mosto. Watch the full trailer below: Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp
Explore our Venice Resource on the Royal Geographical Society Website
The Royal Geographical Society partnered with We are here Venice to produce a Venice module which has now been launched on the Royal Geographical Society’s new website. The resource features videos, fact sheets, podcasts, interviews, activities and lesson plans and…
Beyond artistic display: Art and Law in practice
Moving beyond the sphere of artistic display and exhibition, Venice returns to the forefront of professional development, as illustrated by the series of meetings, ART AND LAW, organised by the Venice Arbitration Chamber. With talks from collectors, museum directors, lawyers and…
Book Launch: Donne come noi
WOMEN LIKE US: 100 STORIES OF ITALIANS WHO HAVE DONE SOMETHING EXCEPTIONAL Donna Moderna, one of Italy’s most popular weekly magazines, are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a book collecting stories of 100 Italian women who, tenaciously, have done something…
Critical research on changes in lagoon circulation
In 2017 a new volume, edited by Luigi D’Alpaos, was released by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti containing an important study produced with support from WahV. Analysis of historic tide gauge data from the lagoon-wide network of monitoring stations has…
Let the Mediterranean Breathe
Nitrogen oxide monitoring pilot study Air quality in port cities is a major cause for concern, especially as more evidence emerges from epidemiological studies that show a direct correlation between illnesses associated with air pollution and proximity of homes to…
Outcome of the long-awaited Government decision on the future for cruiseships (Comitatone 7.11.2017)
It has been a long wait since the last Comitatone (the inter-ministerial committee for planning, coordinating and monitoring Safeguarding of the Venice Lagoon) in August 2014, and yet a definite solution is as elusive as ever, even though the Minister…
European meeting of the movements for the defense of territories, environmental justice and democracy
We are here Venice, together with the author Amitav Ghosh quoted here, endorses this call by the Comitato No Grandi Navi – Laguna Bene Comune, for the meeting of 23rd September at the Magazzini del Sale, Venice: Here in Venice,…
The mayor of Civitavecchia invites the Government and the mayors of other port cities to intervene for limiting atmospheric emissions
We are here Venice fully shares the following request expressed by Cittadini per l’aria and asks to the local institutions in Venice, like the Port Authority, the Venice Passengers Terminal, the mayor, how they intend to proceed. In this case…
PRIOR 25.11.2020: Presents of Mind (and Heart)
Ethical travel network PRIOR has endorsed We are here Venice as part of a recent campaign for travellers to make positive contributions to the places that they visit. WahV is highlighted as an organisation that travellers should donate to because…
Acqua Alta: One Year On
WahV marked the first anniversary of the disastrous 2019 floods in Venice with the following message: On this day one year ago, Venice was hit by a violent storm, resulting in the worst flooding since 1966. No-one escaped the…
Die Wochenzeitung 05.11.2020: Venice and the Biennale
We are here Venice gave an interview to Swiss newspaper Die Wochenzeitung, as part of an investigation into the role of the Biennale in Venice. 'We do not imagine that we have the answers to everything - but we want…
CNN 27.10.2020: These destinations were overwhelmed by tourists. Here’s how they’re doing now
CNN provides comprehensive coverage of the tourism situation in iconic places from Machu Pichu to Dubrovnik and Venice, 'perhaps the destination most commonly associated with overtourism.' In each of the other places, officials have also been interviewed about policies and…
The World 22.10.2020: Is Overtourism Over?
The World spoke to We are here Venice about the city's changing relationship with tourism following the Covid-19 lockdown in Italy in spring 2020. The article compares Venice's situation with other European cities known for attracting overwhelming numbers of tourists,…
Aroop – Issue on Failure
WahV contributed to Aroop magazine's volume on Failure with an essay entitled “The Venice Paradox". The review's fourth volume of 2020 also included contributions from acclaimed writers Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee, Vivek Narayanan and Sumana Roy. It was guest-edited by Ananya…
May Venice 19.10.2020: Living the Laguna Viva
Jane da Mosto was interviewed by May Venice alongside Marcantonio Brandolini d'Adda, Creative Director of glass company Laguna B in our LagunaViva installation at the VAC Foundation in Venice. We are working together to demonstrate the potential of the Venetian lagoon as a carbon sink. Photo by Selina Zampedri.
ASviS Sustainable Development Festival 2020
The ASviS Sustainable Development Festival is a national awareness-raising campaign in Italy, held with the aim of spreading a culture of sustainability throughout Italy. It is part of the UN 2030 Agenda. We are here Venice teamed up with the…
The Telegraph 25.09.2020: How Venice is faring in its worst year since the plague hit
We are here Venice gave comment to The Telegraph, who recently published an article on Venice's recovery following Covid-19 travel restrictions. It saddens us that Venice is more often in the news because of its problems like overtourism. The city…
Global Cruise Activist Network
During lockdown, WahV co-founder Jane da Mosto joined the steering group of what is a fast growing network of community activists scrutinising and campaigning about the unsustainable environmental, economic and humanitarian aspects of cruise ship activities. As a result of…
We are here Venice with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection: teaming up for the 2020 ASviS Festival
For the 2020 Festival of the Italian network ASviS We are here Venice joined forces with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to propose a series of free events involving young people. All events are free and open to the public. The…
MEPs vote to include shipping emissions within European Emissions Trading Scheme
On Wednesday 16th September, MEPs voted to include shipping emissions within the European Emissions Trading Scheme from 2022, obliging shipping companies to cut their CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030. We signed a joint letter on behalf of…
CGTN: A city for locals or for tourists?
Beijing news outlet CGTN spoke to We are here Venice about the effect of Covid-19 measures on Venice's economy, and how the city might diversify its activities in the future to become more resilient. Even with months of lockdown and…
The Telegraph 12.09.2020: How a new art exhibition in Venice is shining a light on the planet’s battle against rising oceans
We are here Venice jointly hosted a visit in the lagoon for group of journalists invited to Venice for the re-opening of Ocean Space. In an article by the Telegraph considerations extend to the environmental challenges of Venice and, if addressed correctly,…
BACK SOON (but better) featured in the “Laguna durante” exhibition
The participative re-visioning of WahV’s poster campaign conceived and curated by Eleonora Sovrani is featured in the solo show of Andrew Huston at Beatrice Buratti Anderson gallery in Venice. Huston produced 2 of the 31 posters made by 27 residents of…
BACK SOON (but better)
“Back soon (but better)” is a call for citizens to express their ideas, desires and reflections on the city post-coronavirus. From May 2020, We are here Venice uses its cruise ship poster campaign to put up posters that have been…
Wish Magazine 04.09.2020: Venice Regained
We are here Venice contributed to an in-depth feature on Venice in Australian magazine Wish, who reached out to us to learn about the city's complex and delicate lagoon system. What’s increasingly clear is that the lagoon is the protagonist of…
Geo France 03.09.2020: Venice Rediscovered
We are here Venice was contacted by Geo France to contribute to a detailed exploration of the city's potential rebirth following Covid-19 restrictions. In the middle of the lagoon, on the island of Sant’Erasmo, the Frenchman Michel Thoulouze is savouring…
The Christian Science Monitor 05.08.2020: COVID-19 empties tourist traps in Europe: Crisis or opportunity?
WahV's report Whose City Is It Anyway?, written by Carolyn Smith and Jane da Mosto, was featured in the US publication The Christian Science Monitor. Efforts are underway to encourage Venetians to stay in Venice, rather than flee to cheaper…
Il Corriere del Veneto 21.07.2020: Rethinking the city after Acqua Alta and Covid
Image: Eleonora Sovrani. Il Corriere del Veneto - a local newspaper for the Veneto region of Italy - has reported on WahV's latest published report, Whose City Is It Anyway? Acqua alta on the 12th of November and Covid-19. There…
CNET 20.07.2020: Venice has been fighting floods for centuries. It’s losing
We are here Venice contributed to CNET's recent feature on the MOSE mobile flood barrier in Venice.
Whose City Is It Anyway?
Following our 2019 publication How Was It For You?, We are here Venice is publishing Whose City Is It Anyway? - a comprehensive summary of Venice's relationship with tourism, along with specific policy recommendations for how this relationship might be improved. Following lockdown…
The Economist 12.07.2020: Venice Tests Its Flood Defences
On 10 July 2020, Venice's mobile flood barrier - known as the MOSE - was tested for the first time. We are here Venice's Jane da Mosto provided The Economist with insight into the project's troubled past. The causes of…
The New York Times 02.07.2020: Venice Tourism May Never Be the Same. It Could Be Better
The New York Times got in touch with We are here Venice to discuss how tourism in Venice might change for the better after the Covid-19 lockdown.
Belgian, Danish, Swedish, and Polish media get in touch for post Covid-19 insight
Image by Annie Drew. Danish national newspaper Information, along with Belgian De Standaard, Swedish Dagens Nyheter and Polish Rzeczpospolita got in touch with We are here Venice to explore the city's changed outlook after Covid-19 brought drastic changes to the…
CNN 19.06.2020: For some Venice residents, reopening after lockdown is bittersweet
We are here Venice's Jane da Mosto spoke to CNN about the return of tourism to Venice post-lockdown.
Deutsche Welle 16.06.2020: What will be the future of tourism in Venice?
Image by Annie Drew. Very few people still want — or are able — to live in the city itself. Many landlords find it far more lucrative to rent their properties to tourists than to a family with an ordinary…
RAI, Il Messaggero 08.06.2020: We must protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030
Image by Annie Drew. Our campaign to restructure Venice's relationship with cruise tourism has been featured in Italian national television network RAI, national newspaper Il Messaggero and local newspaper La Nuova Venezia. For World Ocean Day 2020, We are here…
Venice Exploratorium
Image by Annie Drew. In collaboration with Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam and Professor Caroline Nevejan (Chief Scientific Officer of Amsterdam), WahV is co-curating the Exploratorium - a multi-disciplinary outreach programme which was due to run parallel to the Dutch Pavilion…
The Guardian 03.06.2020: ‘It’s an exciting beginning’: Venice opens to tourists
Image by Annie Drew. As the world looks to Venice to see how the city will cope with the return (or lack thereof) of tourism, The Guardian featured We are here Venice in an article detailing the re-opening of the…
The Art Newspaper 29.05.2020: The Green debate: How can the international art market recover sustainably?
Image by Eleonora Sovrani. WahV contributed to an article in The Art Newspaper, exploring how the art world can get back to business sustainably after the Covid-19 lockdown. Europe needs to reduce its emissions by 15% per year to equitably…
Back soon (but better) – Poster Initiative to Reimagine Venice’s Future
Drawing on our anti-cruise ship poster campaigns, which have been photographed and shared by hundreds of people since they began three years ago, Back soon (but better) sees WahV hand over the recognisable posters to residents across Venice for them…
BBC Radio Scotland 20.05.2020
We are here Venice's Jane da Mosto spoke to BBC Radio Scotland about the impact of Covid-19 on Venice's tourist-based economy. International scrutiny on Venice has intensified as the world wonders how a city that was so dependent on tourism…
CityLab 20.05.2020: When the Cruise Ships Stop Coming
Image by Anna Zemella. The cruise industry has featured frequently in headlines due to its mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. As restrictions are eased, CityLab explores the unsustainability of the cruise sector and the problems it causes in port cities,…
The LA Times 18.05.2020: European hot spots like Venice, Italy, are reopening, but without many tourists
Venice is predicted to be one of the last places to which travelers return, because social distancing measures are so difficult in the city’s winding streets and narrow alleyways. “Nothing is going to bounce back,” Da Mosto said. “We can’t…
CNN 18.05.2020: Deserted Venice contemplates a future without tourist hordes after Covid-19
The problem for Venice isn't the lack of tourists, it's the lack of permanent residents. And with more residents, the city will reflect more the Venetian culture and the wonderful lifestyle that this extraordinary city offers and future visitors to…
The New York Times 16.05.2020: Virus Lockdown Gives Venice a Shot at Reimagining Tourism
Visions for Venice’s future include calls to offer tax breaks to bring traditional manufacturing back to the historic centre. Civic groups have suggested incentives to restore traditional ways of Venetian life, like the standing rowboats used for centuries by residents…
The Guardian 19.04.2020: Is the Cruise Industry Finally out of its Depth?
Cruises should adapt to cities, not the other way round. - Eleonora Sovrani We are here Venice contributed to an article by The Guardian exposing the failings of the cruise ship industry in light of the Covid-19 crisis, but also…
Newsletter Spring 2020
The last few months have seen the challenges facing Venice projected sharply onto the global stage: most recently in the form of Covid-19, preceded by major flooding, governance issues and over-tourism. We hope that Venice will soon return to occupying…
Ships in the Dark: On the inadequacy of cruise ship safety measures in the time of Covid-19
This report examines the shortcomings of cruise ship companies in light of the Covid-19 global emergency - using Venice as a case study. We hope that this challenging period will bring about positive change in the form of cruise ship…
How to make your own anti-cruise ship awareness campaign
This brief manual was conceived as a guide for other groups and associations which are fighting against similar problems caused by cruise ships all over the world. We invite other organisations to use this manual to create their own awareness…
Newsletter 2019
This summer’s newsletter comes in the wake of the MSC Opera cruise ship crash on 2 June, an event which made headlines around the world. Its aftermath brings into sharp focus the excesses of the tourism industry, governance issues surrounding Venice and the environmental…
Sorry, we are closed: Empty Venice in the early days of the COVID-19/Coronavirus precautionary “lockdown”
These photographs by Eleonora Sovrani expose the eternal beauty of the city as well as the emptiness created by the absence of tourists but also by the remarkable reduction in residents in recent years. On the other hand some of…
The Sydney Herald 28.02.2020: Venice, birthplace of quarantine, paralysed by disaster that can’t be seen
At WahV, we hope that the situation with coronavirus will lead to radical changes in development of diversified economic activity in Venice. We were contacted by the Sydney Morning Herald to give our viewpoint on the impact of the outbreak.…
The Guardian 29.02.2020: ‘It’s the last nail in the coffin’: Venice Empties as Coronavirus Spreads
If this is a wake-up call, who is listening? The Guardian's Hannah Roberts got in touch with We are here Venice to explore the impact of coronavirus on tourism in Venice - the city's main industry.
Financial Times 26.02.2020: Coronavirus Stirs the Waters of Venice
In light of the recent restrictions placed on the city of Venice as a result of a number of coronavirus cases in the city, We are here Venice's Jane da Mosto provided the Financial Times with insight into what needs…
WahV at the Cartagena Cruise Dialogue 2020
WahV was the only NGO to take part in the Cartagena Cruise Dialogue 2020, where we presented "The Venice Paradox" - our analysis of the negative impacts cruise tourism in Venice. The abstract underlines the importance of reformulating the issue…
France Inter 18.02.2020: Inside MOSE, the dam that’s supposed to save Venice from sinking
Not everyone understands that Venice is a complex collection of islands within a very special and delicate lagoon system. France Inter got in touch with We are here Venice for some insight on the ongoing issues with the dysfunctional MOSE…