Amid all the breast-beating about how the recent floods have ravaged Venice boo hoo, with the mayor thereof (of course) blaming “climate change” for the disaster, the fact remains that in a nation where corruption is not just systemic but endemic, Venice stands apart from all the other cities as being the poster-boy for corruption.
The mayor of Venice has blamed climate change for the disaster but there was also anger among Venetians yesterday at the corruption which has held up a flood barrier project.
Just so we’re all clear about this, the phrase missing from that last sentence is: “…which has held up a flood barrier project for the last thirty years.” The plans have been in place, the funding more or less allocated (if such a thing can happen in Italy, given their perpetual state of near-bankruptcy), but… nothing has happened, as bureaucrats argue and wrangle, projects are started then canceled, service providers arrive then leave, and in general, the whole thing resembles a typical Italian cock-up.
I remember arriving at Rome’s Da Vinci Airport dying for a pee, only to find that the men’s toilets at the Arrivals gate were “non operativo“. I later discovered that the toilets had been “non operativo” for close to a year. And this, by the way, in a place where reservations clerks faced with irate passengers simply switch off their terminals and go have a cup of coffee until said passengers have given up and left.
A Brit friend who was involved in a project with the Italian Army was even more dismissive.
“I have to say, their uniforms are magnificent — they look like they were each personally tailored by Versace.”
“How’s their organization and operational readiness?”
“Oh God…they have neither. Christ help them if they’re ever faced with a real military problem.”
So the Venetian imbroglio doesn’t surprise me one little bit. And this is why I say simply, fuck ’em. Let their poxy city sink under the waves, and let the tourism dollars dry up (except from the most hardy of souls).
To coin a phrase: let Venice sink.
In October 2010 my wife and I took a bus tour of Italy to celebrate her (mumble)th birthday. One of our overnight stops was in Venice. The hotel was absolutely magnificent, huge chandelier in the lobby, so swank that the swank was swank.
We woke up in the morning to no hot water. There WAS hot water the previous evening. Called front desk as was informed that the hot water croaked at around midnight, and they were “waiting for the plumber to show up.” Now had this happened at an American Holiday Inn, the hotel managers would have been dragging plumbers out of bed and throwing money at them to come fix the problem, but not in Italy, where of COURSE the plumber has to have his espresso and sticky bun before he can even THINK of doing any work. (Of course in the US the affected customers would also have demanded their money refunded, so the American hotel managers would’ve had a financial incentive to unfuck themselves).
So yeah, Italy is beautiful, and the food is some of the best I’ve ever eaten, but it’s problematic when the hot water heater dies.
Oh, while we were there they had these bridges set up across Piazza San Marco so the tourists didn’t have to wade thru water about as deep as the pic above, the locals of course all had hip waders. So if that’s the “record flooding” they say they’re experiencing I’m throwing the bullshit flag.
Regarding the food:
My wife is full-blooded, third generation Italian-American (all four grandparents were off-the-boat). She’s eaten Italian food her entire life. She had the absolute BEST lasagna she ever ate, at the highway rest stop where we stopped for lunch near Ravel (where her maternal grandmother came from).
OK, one more. The day we arrived in Rome, jet-lagged, tired, having been up at that point for some 12 hours and it was lunch time, we did a short tour of the Vatican Museum, the tour guide suggested we get something to eat from the trucks parked along the street, eat, and take a nap. We each got a pressed sandwich with flat bread, salami and provolone. It was about the best thing I’ve ever tasted. My mouth is watering now, just thinking about it.
In the Wikipedia article on Venice floods there is a photo that shows various flood levels. the dates are in descending order of depth 1966 , 1979, 1986, 2002, 1989, 2000. with 1966 being the worst by far. Politicians and newspapers know that memory fades fast. When you see an article that says worst in decades you should immediately realize that somewhere earlier there was a Worst in 100 year number that was bigger but didn’t fit the story they want to tell. Sea level rising??? Bull .
With a little more searching , I’m sure there are stories of the great floods of the 1500’s or earlyier.
This vid goes into it also and is a fascinating watch — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNrE6MQNeZQ
Venice’s land is sinking ~.08″ to .16″ per year and tilting to the east as shown by satellite and radar data, or ~1″ every 8 years. Having been around for roughly 1,500 years, that’s about 15 feet from its early days.
Last time I looked, most things around the oceans’ edges erode; yannow, everything seeks its lowest energy state.
I’m so sick of screeching, whining enstupidated Leftists that I can no longer let the anthropomorphic Climate Change BS stand when someone bleats it in my face, so I demand they tell me what it is right now where we’re standing and what it should be IN NUMBERS. I also challenge them to tell me the total energy output of mankind versus solar radiation input to earth.
They mostly stammer, belch out some ad hominem attack and stomp off. They haven’t a clue other than reciting the Statist catechism.
Let me remind everyone that the damn flood project so far has cost 6.5 BILLION EUROS.
Let’s not forget that part of the reason that Venice has been sinking is because they were – maybe still are – pumping out the groundwater.
I do hope they save a lot of the stuff in Venice. The artwork is stunning. But it doesn’t need to be in Venice. And look, they can transport whole oil rig tops. So they can have ships come in and lift up and transport some of the more important buildings to safer places.
So what I’m hearing here is that Venice is somewhat Italy’s version of New Orleans?
Except with a lot more arm-waving hysteria.
And fewer alligators.
I know, I know, corrupt, lazy, inefficient, rotten dagos / wops / latinos, but still I love ’em, at least for vacations. Food, music, fun, relaxation, gemuetlichkeit or whatever they call it.
So long as you don’t want reliable hot water – or any water for that matter – Sayulita Mexico, 2014 or so, major water valve failed, town engineer missing, presumed off with mistress, pacificos and tequilla, no toilets, no nothing, life went on for 4 days till Senior engineer returned, stunned from sex and booze.
I’ve just returned from Hawaii, which I predict will soon be much the same.