Just got an SMS predicting acqua alta of between 105 – 110 cm (due to a disturbance in the Atlantic, of all things) for late this evening, cresting at 11:40 pm. If you were here, and planning to go out for dinner, it would be advisable to take your boots for the walk home.
This video was shot in Cannaregio during the historic acqua alta of Dec 1, 2008 (156 cm, compared tonight’s predicted max of 110), and I think it tells the story pretty well. As extreme as it was, within about three hours after the video was shot, the tide had receded — leaving a big, big mess.
p.s. There’s even a bookstore named Libreria Acqua Alta, just off Campo S.M. Formosa down Calle Larga S.M. Formosa. This eccentric store has a gondola as its centerpiece that perhaps could come in handy in the event of another historic tide…but that meanwhile is used for book display.
Wow. I’m amazed that you can tell where to step, without walking right off into the canal in some places.
Wow, I know the bookstore you’re talking about! My husband and I visited Venice almost two years ago, and we took a look in there (it was maybe three blocks from the apartment we were staying in.) I was thinking the same thing when I saw the gondola; at the time, it was filled with books and a sleepy cat.
Wow that is scary and of course it could happen again. I agree with the previous commenter re the possibility of walking into the canal!
That would leave a hell of a clean-up job.
I’ve been to that bookstore and remember the cat too! A couple of years ago my husband and I stayed in the owner Luigi Frizzo’s B & B, which is just across the street from the store.. a lovely old apartment full of bric-a-brac Mr Frizzo had collected.