Venice is getting ready for the acqua alta the next day …

The MOSE lifting system, designed to protect Venice After heavy rains, it was finally activated successfully this morning in anticipation of further upwelling and after failing on Tuesday, causing the famous San Marcos Square to be flooded.

The so-called MOSE system, which took more than 15 years to build due to corruption and cost overrun scandals, was not put into operation on Tuesday because the weather forecast was wrong as an increase in water level of only 1.2 meters above sea level.

The Venetians, accustomed for centuries to the phenomenon of “acqua alta”, had to reuse rubber boots and wooden walkways to cope with the floods that reached 1.37 meters above sea level. San Marcos Square was covered with water after the heavy rains recorded throughout the peninsula.

The underwater barriers that are raised to close the three outlets of the Venetian lagoon off the coast, Malamocco, Lido and Chioggia, were raised following a tide forecast for today of 123 cm, and after the previous one. Tuesday, when An abnormal strengthening of the wind caused an episode of “flood” up to 138 cm, higher than expected, without the commissioning of the dams.

The mayor of Venice himself, Luigi Brugnaro, had complained that MOSE had not been activated, while San Marco Square and the historic center were partially flooded. In the same vein, several traders in the historic center protested against the decision not to have removed the barriers despite the forecasts.

“More flood peaks are expected in the next few hours. We are working with Commissioner Spitz to commission MOSE this evening at low tide, around 0040,” Brugnaro said Tuesday afternoon.

“The only positive thing about yesterday is that it can be a useful hard lesson for the future, because tide forecasts, with current instruments, have been shown to be unreliable and therefore the range in centimeters for the opening of the MOSE should at least be widened compared to that of 120/130 cm of flood “, he explained Carlo Alberto Tesserin, Attorney General of San Marco.

“Every time the water rises, they ask me how much damage the basilica has suffered but it’s incalculable given the frequency of high tides in recent years,” he said, adding that before, once that the floors, mosaics and marbles were washed with fresh water, in a day or two it would return to normal. “

On this point, he clarified that “now, on the other hand, everything is full of salt which, with each flood, in addition to being non-washable, because of the contamination, it reaches greater heights … and makes everything crumble ”.

The ambitious MOSE engineering structure, with 78 doors, can be lifted in 30 minutes and then completely disappear underwater when not activated, being a unique structure in the world, with a cost of 5,500 million euros.

In November last year, Venice suffered one of its worst floods, with “exceptional” levels just after the 1966 disaster.