worried

I was surfing the web for pics of Venice to dream about until my trip when I saw a pic of the san marco square flooded. Do the floods happen regularly? Do all the museums, shops and resturants close when it happens? I will be there for Christmas and New Year, should I be worried??!

Maurice

Unless it's really bad weather, it's a "high tide" event. We were there Sept. 2001. The water started lapping over the pier about 10:30; by 11:00 it was oozing out of the drains in St. Mark's Square. By noon it was about a foot deep, and receded by 2PM.<BR>They had the metal supports and planks up before the water was a problem. A few hardy souls skipped the traffic jams on the planks by wading across the square. Beyond St. Marks, most of the city is well above high water; the flood only seemed to go a block or two past the square. Some of the stores in the square stay open through high water ("aqua alta") but I guess they know enough to move the stuff off the bottom shelf.<BR>I have to wonder how bad this is for the buildings. I have seen news that they have finnally decided to start building a flood control gate system on the lagoon entry points.

mhm

According to an interesting article in this week's US News & World Report, flooding is expected in Venice on Nov. 4--the very day we will be there. It is due to an unusually high tide, and the moon and etc. The article gave a lot of information about what is happening to the buildings, etc. in Venice and the changes they are attempting to save the city, so to speak.

confused

I always heard aboutthe floods in Venice but I never thought it was that serious or that it reaches the san marco square!!! I am supposed to be in Venice late January for 4 days should I cancel?

Dori

I was just there September 21-24. It rained all three days. The first two days only at night. The last day - all day and night. It wasn't until the last day that St. Mark's square was flooded. They put up planks. The rest of the city was not flooded, however. Don't worry. Take your trip.

Karen

As others have already said, DON'T WORRY. DON'T CANCEL. It is high tides and normal occurrence. It's actually quite a site to see, and you can just walk on the planks and head to higher ground for a few hours. By late afternoon, everything is back to normal for your pre-dinner bottle of wine in the square (a definite must!). Have fun!