Dstandish's Weblog

An appeal was launched on 9 February 2011 by Venice City Council requesting €1 million of private funds to assist restoration of Venice’s St Mark’s Square. Pavements and doorways on the Square need urgent restoration.
Venice City Council has allocated €300,000 for this work. Alessandro Maggioni, Venice’s Councillor of public works, has called on entrepreneurs to provide additional funds. Entrepreneurs should consider following the example of Diego Della Valle, who has offered €25 million for restoration work in Rome. Massimiliano Alajamo, a Michlelin star chef who bought Venice’s Caffè Quadri a few weeks ago, is in favour of private funding of restoring St Mark’s Square. By contrast, Arrigo Cipriani, owner of Venice’s Harry’s Bar, has opposed private donations for restoration and instead argued that funds for St Mark’s Square should be taken away from Project MOSE, the mobile dam system under construction to protect Venice from high flooding. “I am absolutely against…the Council should take €300,000 from MOSE designated for the landscaping system and the problem of St Mark’s Square is resolved,” stated Cipriani.
As set out in the forthcoming book ‘Venice in Environmental Peril? Myth and Reality’ (UPA, September 2011) by Dominic Standish, the mobile dams should be fully funded and completed. Moreover, restoring and modernizing Venice through partnerships between state bodies, private companies and entrepreneurs is explained in the book as a model for improving the city.
Further information about the St Mark’s Square appeal can be found in the article ‘Serve un milione per restaurare piazza San Marco. Il Comune: ci aiutino i privati,’ published by Venice’s daily newspaper Il Gazzettino di Venezia on 9 February 2011 here:
Serve un milione per restaurare piazza San Marco. Il Comune: ci aiutino i privati