Page "Venice" Paragraph 50

Some recent studies have suggested that the city is no longer sinking, but this is not yet certain ; therefore, a state of alert has not been revoked.

In May 2003 the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated the MOSE project ( Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico ), an experimental model for evaluating the performance of hollow floatable gates ; the idea is to fix a series of 78 hollow pontoons to the sea bed across the three entrances to the lagoon.

When tides are predicted to rise above 110 centimetres, the pontoons will be filled with air, causing them to float and block the incoming water from the Adriatic Sea.

This engineering work is due to be completed by 2014.