Gondolas and water taxis will never again have to vie with big cruise ships for space in front of Venice’s St Mark’s Square, an Italian governmental committee has decided. Venetian residents and environmentalists have long voiced concerns about floating pleasure palaces sailing close to the fragile city, dwarfing its Gothic and Byzantine churches.Under the new rules, which follow a temporary limit imposed three years ago, the largest ships weighing 100,000 tonnes or more will take a less glamorous route to the industrial port of Marghera, far from the Grand Canal.

Almost 99% of the 18,000 Venetians who voted in an unofficial referendum in June supported the ban. The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, hailed the plan as answering the requirements of residents, the lucrative tourism business, and conservation groups who have raised the alarm about damage to the shallow lagoon and canals.

“We want it to be clear to Unesco [the United Nations cultural agency] and the whole world that we have a solution,” Brugnaro said after the meeting of the governmental committee charged with saving Venice. “This takes into account all the jobs created by the cruise industry, which we absolutely couldn’t afford to lose, and we can start to work seriously on planning cruises.”(theguardian)…[+]