Venice's picturesque lagoon vistas are marred now by the presence of massive barges preparing the way for the construction of the protection system that has been dubbed "Moses," and the city's ancient coffee bars are filled with speculation about how well the new system will work.
Engineers insist it will work effectively if not completely. Picked from among a dozen candidate strategies a decade ago, the plan calls for a series of 78 28-meter-high (92-foot-high) hinged underwater barriers that will lie on the sea floor to permit tides to flow normally most of the time and allow the healthy exchange of water and sea life between the lagoon and the Adriatic Sea, a key environmental consideration. But the same barriers will be pumped with air and pivot to the surface when the sea rises more than 1.1 meters (3 feet, 8 inches), a level that in the past has flooded the city.
The project is named for the biblical Moses, whose powers parted the Red Sea and whose name officials hope will provide luck in preventing Venice's canals from continually breaking their banks.
Floods have become an increasingly common occurrence in Venice, where in recent years the 5-month rainy season has seen the city flood an average once every 3 days, though most last for only a few hours. But once every few years -- most recently in 2000 and 2002 -- the city's canals dramatically overflow onto its streets and stay there for several days, threatening to damage some of the priceless works of art and architecture for which Venice is known.
The legendary flood of 1966 flooded the city for more than a week, leaving more than 5,000 people homeless and prompting city fathers to study alternatives.
"For my whole life and even before that, people have said that somebody should do something about the floods. ... I even remember my father saying 'what can men do in a fight against nature?'" Anita Sorano, an 83-year-old native of Venice who reckons she has seen more than 1,000 significant floods in her lifetime, told United Press International. "I don't know if men can fight against nature, but we are becoming desperate. I have been praying it will work."
Maurizio Illius, 53, who at a sidewalk wine bar watched the early construction efforts with Sorano and a small group of other locals, also said he hoped for the best.
"These machines seem so big and powerful when I look at them but then I think of the strength of some of the floods I've seen and I don't know what could stop that," Illius said.
Engineers believe the problem for Venice is that it was built on soft, silty earth pulled from the lagoon and as the land settles, the city and the wooden piles that support its structures slowly sink. Even the casual tourist can spot stair steps now permanently underwater; and experts who compare current views with Renaissance paintings of the city and who study the architecture of ancient buildings estimate Venice has sunk more than a meter (3 feet) in the past 400 years. As it sinks, the vicious cycle of ravages from the sea accelerates.
Moses was kicked off in May by regional and local government officials as well as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who called the city the "pride of Italy" and said that "dedication to saving the national treasure and marvel is at the heart of the government's concerns."
Government officials hasten to point out that Moses doesn't represent complete protection, but they do say that the added protection it offers is well worth the expense and effort.
"This is one of the most ambitious engineering projects every attempted," Giuseppe Conti, the city official overseeing the construction part of the Moses project, told UPI. "Nothing can keep Venice dry under any circumstances, but this will protect the city from the smaller floods and made the larger floods less severe."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.