Venice's Grand Canal to be Closed for first time in Memory

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It is normally choked with vaporetto ferries, launches and smart wood-panelled speedboats, but Venice's Grand Canal will be closed to motorised craft for the first time in living memory on Sunday - Nick Squires.

A boat with protesters sails along the Grand Canal displaying a banner against Cruise Ships crossing Venice

The idea is to highlight the damage done to canal banks by the wake of boats and cut down on air and water pollution – if only for a few hours.

The lagoon city wants to encourage the use of boats with reduced fuel emission levels.
To underscore the point, there will be a display of electricity-powered boats.
Gondolas – which are propelled by gondoliers using only muscle power – will be exempt from the ban.
The closure, which will last from 10am until 3pm, is said to be the first of its kind ever imposed.
It will affect the entire length of the Grand Canal, which winds for more than two and a half miles between centuries-old palazzi, merchant's houses, churches and luxury hotels.
It has been described as "the finest street in the world, with the finest houses".
The initiative has been organised by Venice city council with the cooperation of organisations like the chamber of commerce.
"The day will reinforce the council's commitment to the battle against pollution and the damaging waves created by boats," said Ugo Bergamo, a city councillor.
Pierfrancesco Ghetti, a strategic planner for the council, said Venice had to "get smart" and use technology to cut down on the environmental impact of the thousands of boats that ply its canals each day.
The ban will not affect the giant cruise liners which visit Venice because they are too big to sail down the Grand Canal and instead use the parallel Giudecca Canal to reach the city's cruise ship terminal.