ABSTRACT
Piazza San Marco, which stands on the lowest elevated of all the islands forming the city, is often flooded during very high tide events. In order to design cost-effective protection interventions, a deep understanding of flooding mechanisms and the relationship between groundwater pressure and tidal oscillations was necessary.
This chapter presents and discusses the results of geotechnical surveys and the measurements of pore pressure oscillations in the soil of Piazza San Marco in Venice. The results provided important information that guided the design of the project and could be of interest to similar coastal problems. Results show that significant pressure oscillations occur in the subsoil, which should be considered to safeguard the stability of architectural structures, and the historical floor mosaics and paving, in particular. However, since the seepage flow rate is minimal, its impact on the drainage system is limited in terms of water discharge.
