Versione Italiana – Translation by Paul Rosenberg
One year after the hoax of Riyadh in 2023, UNESCO returns to Venice in the role of the Investigative Mission of ICOMOS and ICCROM experts. Their task: to report to the World Heritage Committee, the WHC, on the status of the Site “Venice and its Lagoon”, registered as a protected heritage site since 1987.
At that time, this was a success that certified the historical, cultural and environmental uniqueness of Venice due to the extraordinary character of the inseparable unity of its heritage.
But already in 2016 in Istanbul, the 40th Unesco biennial session, almost thirty years after the historic recognition, the UNESCO consultative bodies – ICOMOS and the Ramsar secretariat – proposed including Venice in the “Endangered” list, with a report that is as well-documented as it is frank. In practice, this treatment is reserved for those who are about to lose the requirements of “authenticity, integrity and identity”, those that establish the prerogatives of recognizability of protected sites. It is an honor, but also a burden which, while certifying the value of the site, demands a consequent commitment to conservation.
Since then, the warning has stuck to the city, which has passed unscathed through three biennial UNESCO sessions: Krakow, Baku, Fuzhou, collecting along the way repeated recommendations that have all remained without result. Until the 45th session in Riyadh, where Japan took the chestnuts out of the fire for Venice.
Here solidarity arises between two prominent members of the UNESCO club. Japan, first in contributions and second in number of sites, and Italy, first in sites and second in contributions. Two number ones in the world conservation field with prerogatives of particular importance. It may not seem like it, but these are things that weigh on internal relations between UNESCO members, who among themselves give priority to mutual support. Especially since the national representatives are strictly dependent on the role of diplomats appointed by the minister, and therefore people who are not experts in the subject, but rather simple spokespersons of politics, by the duty of their office.
On the other hand, strictly cultural bodies are simply responsible for drafting the technical reports. These then end up in the circuit of national diplomatic bureaucracies where, together with the individual protagonism of the feluccas in the assemblies, politics dominates with all its rites of reciprocity. Thus, the strict sense of merit vanishes while motives of convenience take hold.
None of this is a surpise. UNESCO is a daughter of the UN, and it reproduces its vices and virtues that testify, in a fortunately bloodless way, to today’s sense of impotence with respect to the universal principles of conservation and the rules for applying them. This is the mandate of the organization, since its birth in 1945.
When, in September 2023, the Riyadh council decided to remove Venice from the Endangered list, by declaration of vote without even opening a discussion, it meant that Venice would finally have to do something to deserve it. And so the simple promise acted as a release.
This is where the intervention, in the last minute, of the Venetian administration urgently summoned to Riyadh came in. Among the many critical aspects of the management of the site, the one proposed by the Venetian delegation concerned the management of tourism. That daily overload that the city suffers to satisfy the various categories that draw nourishment from tourism and gaining their political support.
It so happens, however, that 2024 has been the year in which overtourism, starting from the art cities that are being taken by storm, has taken center stage daily in the national and international press. This has been further fueled by local conflicts involving exasperated citizens who are showing their discomfort like never before.
What the Venetian Administration proposed to UNESCO was the introduction of an entrance fee. The intent was twofold: the fee was meant to function simultaneously as a deterrent to overtourism and a ploy to get out of the endangered list. A broad international audience showed interest due to the apparent originality of the proposal. Charge the entrance fee to discourage visits! Curiously, the promise was rewarded before verifying the facts. As for the results, we will see. But that was more than enough for the Riyadh assembly to remove Venice from the list, thus concluding the session without discussion. Just in time for lunch!
The practical experimentation of the access “ticket”, in spring 2024, turned into a marketing event, which the world press does not fail to grasp and comment on, creating anticipation, reports and reflections. And that was enough, Venice is the first in the world to claim the medal. The game is played. In the meantime, UNESCO has remained silent, awaiting the preliminary checks of October 2024.
But in Venice, there is silence regarding the absence of threshold limits on access to the city. Just pay, and you are free to enter the city. To the point that the experiment, with all of its dozens of exemptions, records peaks in attendance and a success in collections. For just five euros, everyone enters. In fact, the measure does not discourage anyone at all, and no penalty is foreseen. What happens instead is that many people flock to the city before the prices rise, like on the market. First come, first served. But there is no danger, here everyone stays.
It would seem therefore to be a truly unintended outcome, but this does not count. Under the pull of the marked, respect for form takes the place of substance, and the play is successful. In the vulgate of its administrators Venice continues calmly on its path. The test worked for what was needed. Avoid the red card and also incentivize the tourist economy in the form of overtourism, to a bitter end that only receives further impetus. Here too we have another hoax, but opinions differ on the damage. More tourists, more earnings for everyone. The interests of tourism ask for nothing else. Feed the square.
This is what the WHC experts’ mission to Venice in October 2024 will be required to carefully assess in their report to be prepared for the 46th session, UNESCO 2025 in New Delhi.
But, having reached this point, the city itself is called to an unusual, yet inevitable, reflection.
Given the state of profound alteration of the characteristics of “authenticity, integrity and identity” of the Site “Venice and its lagoon”, combined with the profound discomfort that citizens continually manifest, the city is asked to express which option is more desirable.
That is, whether, also in light of the most recent events, the return to the Endangered list is proposed with more documentation, or whether, instead, yet another victory of the diplomatic cultural hypocrisy of the UNESCO leaders contributes to indefinitely prolonging the degradation of Venice and its lagoon, in spite of every declaration.
It is not difficult to imagine the indignant accusation of self-harm by the many interests that are behind the urban decay and environmental degradation, which are extract increasing profits from overtourism.
However, it could also trigger a big free-for-all. Let’s shake off the Brand that we no longer need! It has now fulfilled its marketing task.
On the other hand, we can also suppose that a serious blow, followed by heavy repercussions of international reputation, could induce a surge of civic pride and a healthy desire to react. Shake off the submission to the limitless commercial degradation imposed by the state of affairs in the city. Reclaim the dignity of citizen protagonists. Overturn the role of passive spectators of an urban future pushed towards the fate of being an unmanaged “theme park”.
One thing we can take for granted, however. On the “Venice test”, UNESCO is also playing a game of its declining authority on the international scene.
This is not a wish, but a bitter observation. UNESCO is no longer synonymous with the protection of a site, but only with its commercial value. It’s not exactly exciting, even for the vast diplomatic corps that feeds on this onanistic exercise.
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