Somebody said that somebody said that Mayor Cacciari said that people should stay away from Venice, “for some incomprehensible reason tied to some presumed danger.”

He intended it, evidently, for those few hours when we were up to our earlobes in the marea, and the city was just struggling to address the situation. He didn’t really mean it as a long-term sort of command, and is calling for some sort of companion press releases in English to help avoid the situation in the future.

“Far be it from me and any intention I have to invite who-knows-who not to come to Venice; and even worse, to over-drammatize the situation.”

I translated his comments, of course.