Over recent years, the Consorzio di Bonifica Veneto Orientale has developed a broad and articulated plan of interventions aimed at enhancing the resilience of its territory to the increasingly evident effects of the ongoing climate crisis, which risks compromising territorial safety, landscape quality, and the integrity of local ecosystems. For a territory such as Eastern Veneto, largely composed of mechanically drained basins located below sea level, the most feared phenomenon is the rise in mean sea level.
It is therefore essential for the safety of the territory—and indeed for its very existence—to implement a comprehensive project to raise the embankments located near the coastal ridges, particularly those containing the navigable waterway known as the “Litoranea Veneta.” This historic waterway dates back to the Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice and, running parallel to the coastline, connects the Venetian Lagoon to the Gulf of Trieste.
Aware that the historical, cultural, environmental, landscape, and tourism implications—alongside the strictly technical and hydraulic ones—of such an intervention require a broad and integrated approach, the Consortium has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IUAV University of Venice, the Conference of Mayors of Eastern Veneto, VeGal, Infrastrutture Venete S.r.l., Fondazione Terra d’Aqua, and the DeltaMed Association. The aim is to present, at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the technical-economic feasibility project for raising the embankments of the Litoranea Veneta through an emotional video installation hosted at IUAV’s Ca’ Tron Palace.
Within this framework, and with the clear intention of initiating a virtuous cycle of large-scale dialogue and discussion involving experts from different disciplines—thus contributing to strengthening the resilience of this remarkable reclaimed territory—the International Scientific Conference “Technical and Cultural Infrastructuring of the Litoranea Veneta: Themes, Issues, and Future Challenges in the Context of Coastal Mobility in the Upper Adriatic Arc” has been organized by the Consorzio di Bonifica Veneto Orientale in collaboration with the aforementioned partners.
The conference will take place at the M9 Museum of the 20th Century in Mestre (VE) on May 15 at 9:30 AM and will feature contributions from Prof. Andrea Rinaldo, winner of the 2023 Stockholm Water Prize; Prof. Marco Mancini of Politecnico di Milano; Dr. Giulio Boccaletti, Scientific Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change; Prof. Benno Albrecht, Rector of IUAV University of Venice; Dr. Rafael Navarro Sanchez, Technical Director of the Taula de Consens pel Delta de l’Ebre; Dr. Domitien Détrie, Territorial Director of Voies Navigables de France (which manages the Canal du Midi, a waterway with many similarities to the Litoranea Veneta); and Eng. Vincenzo Artico, Head of the Regional Directorate for Soil Protection. Dr. Stefano Calderoni, Vice President of ANBI, will also participate to present the initiative for the serial UNESCO candidacy of reclamation territories.
