Some recent studies have suggested that the city is no longer sinking, but this is not yet certain; therefore, a state of alert has not been revoked. In May 2003, Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, inaugurated the “Moses” project, which will lay a series of 79 inflatable pontoons across the sea bed at the three entrances to the lagoon. When tides are predicted to rise above 110 centimetres, the pontoons will be filled with air and block the incoming water from the Adriatic sea. This challenging engineering work is due to be completed by 2011.
Venice in culture, the arts, and fiction
In the 14th century, many young Venetian men began wearing tight-fitting multicolored hose, the designs on which indicated the Compagnie della Calza (“Trouser Club”) to which they belonged. The Senate passed sumptuary laws, but these merely resulted in changes in fashion in order to circumvent the law. Dull garments were worn over colorful ones, which then were cut to show the hidden colors—which resulted in the wide spread of men’s “slashed” fashions in the 15th century.
During the 16th century, Venice became one of the most important musical centers of Europe, with the development of the Venetian polychoral style under composers such as Adrian Willaert, who worked at San Marco. Venice was the early center of music printing; Ottaviano Petrucci began publishing music almost as soon as this technology was available, and his publishing enterprise helped to attract composers from all over Europe, especially from France and Flanders. By the end of the century, Venice was famous for the splendor of its music, as exemplified in the “colossal style” of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, which used multiple choruses and instrumental groups.
Other major works involving Venice include:
William Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice
Death in Venice, a 1912 novel by Thomas Mann
Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 film Don’t Look Now, based on a story by Daphne du Maurier
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