ABSTRACT
Introduction: Thetis, or the ‘Strange’ Reappearance of Social Capital in Venice
On 25 August 2006, among the usual political news on the front page of the Italian daily La Repubblica, a particular title caught the attention of Venetian and Italian readers: ‘Venice in 2030: a depopulated city’ (Bianchin 2006). Reporting the results of a recent study commissioned by the Venice City Council, the article noted that the steady population decline of the last half-century was set to continue and would eventually lead to Venice becoming a mere theme park with no permanent residents, but only countless tourists admiring the ruins of what once was one of the world’s most vibrant cities. Just a few weeks before the publication of this article the Venice in Peril Fund organized an international symposium at the Royal Geographic Society in London with a provocative title: ‘Enough money has been spent saving Venice.’ The symposium was preceded in the British press by several polemical headlines such as: ‘If you love Venice, let her die’ (Campbell-Johnston 2006), or ‘Send for Disney to Save Venice’ (McKie 2006). Such contentious propositions accentuated the key message of the symposium, namely, that there is no economic rationale for stubbornly prolonging the life of this old city by means of artificial, and very costly, treatments, as it will only delay her swan-song and inevitable disappearance under the lagoon waters. And thus, since even ordinary Venetians have decided
to surrender to such an ‘unavoidable’ fate, why then spend money to restore the beautiful facades of her Palazzi or the creeping walls of her numberless churches? If anything, the most rational decision would be to turn Venice into a theme park run by a corporation – apparently the only solution whereby the city could support her final years of life.
