​Italian Government Bans Large Cruise Ships from Entering Grand Canal in Venice

After a ten-year dispute, the Italian government has announced that it will begin redirecting cruise ships away from the Grand Canal in the historic city of Venice.

​Residents have been complaining for year that larger cruise ships which regularly sailing along the Grand Canal in Venice are causing damage.

Following an incidence in June 2019, when a cruise ship collided with a river boat which was berthed and damaged the quayside, the call for a ban of larger cruise ship sailing in the Giudecca Canal was reignited.
 
The ban will now see ships of more than 1,000 gross tonne being redirected away from the city’s historic canal.
 
Larger cruise ships will dock at the Fusina and Lombardia cruise terminals away from the centre of Venice from September 2019 until the end of the year. These berths are still inside the city’s lagoon. By 2020, a third of all cruise ships visiting Venice will be redirected.
 
In 2018 a total of 594 cruise ships visiting Venice.