Original subtitles

The picturesque lagoon

on which the iconic city of Venice was built

has always been this form of maritime powers lifeline,

offering crucial protection from the mainland

and easy access to the sea.

But the very waters that were its historical ally

also became Venice's greatest enemy

with recurrent flooding across the vast tracks of the city.

In a marvel of modern naval engineering

and heavy lift technology, the Italian government

under consortium of private enterprises

is building a 7.3 billion Euro water barrier system

to safeguard this romantic city of water

for future generations.

(upbeat music)

(water sloshing)

The streets of Venice flood,

a phenomenon known here as acqua alta,

when strong southeasterly winds

and a high astronomical tide

calls an unusual inflow of water into the Venetian Lagoon.

Exceptional tides measured here at Punta della Dogana

have occurred more frequently over the last century

and risk catastrophically damaging the whole lagoon

and the city itself.

Venetians have long been accustomed

to coping with the inconvenience of acqua alta.

In 2003, the Italian government

began building an ambitious feat of engineering

to stop the devastating high tides and save the city.

A massive surge barrier with 78 floating gates

to close off the lagoon when flooding occurs.

Let's say it's a problem of preservation

of the city's monumental heritage.

Thanks to exchanges with the environmentalist

and to the improvement of the technologies,

we have created the most important

and probably the greatest environmental initiative

in the world.

You can't just finish part of it and then see if it works.

We're going to have to wait until it's completely finished.

Venice is sinking

due to a two-fold mix of natural and man-made problems.

Climate change has caused the Adriatic to rise.

But Venice also suffers from shifting plate tectonics,

meaning, the ground underneath the city is sinking.

This problem is made worse

by the reckless pumping of groundwater

for use in petrochemical plants nearby.

(soft music)

We estimate that the sea level

has risen by 12 to 13 centimeters.

So the sum of rising sea levels and the thinking soil

totals about 25 centimeters.

So the city of Venice over the course of the last century

has sunk approximately 25 centimeters

with respect to the average sea level.

In 1966, flood levels in the city

reached a record, 1.94 meters, roughly six feet,

causing immense damage to the city's building

and giving birth to the Save Venice movement.

Recognizing the need for a permanent solution,

city authorities hatched a plan

for the separation of the lagoon from the sea at high tide.

The project was baptized, MOSE,

an acronym that stands for

Modulo Elettromeccanico Sperimentale

or Experimental Electromechanical Module.

In 1966, Venice flooded dramatically.

It was the worst flood ever recorded

and lasted longer than ever before,

and so the Italian government

decided that Venice had become a national problem

and that the city had to be saved from the high waters.

So from that moment onwards,

a series of ideas emerged and then projects were launched

that are now being concluded after many years

to create a system that stops the rising waters

outside the Venetian lagoon

protecting the city from flooding.

The MOSE project was all the more ambitious

because of the geography of Venice.

The Venetian lagoon was formed about 6,000 years ago

as the coastal plain shifted following the last ice age.

Today it stretches 550 square kilometers

from the River Sila in the North

to the Brenta in the South.

The city of Venice and the smaller islands around it

all together only account for 8% of the lagoon area,

while 12% is permanently covered by open water and canals,

and 80% is mud-flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes.

In fact, it is one of the Mediterranean basin's

largest wetlands.

The lagoon is connected to the Adriatic sea

by three large openings in the natural sand barrier.

They are the Lido, the Malamocco,

and the Chioggia inlets

where the tide enters and exits twice a day.

The seawater enters the inlets

and spreads gradually into the lagoon.

From the inlets, it spreads along the canals.

It goes faster along canals but also around the sand banks

and the deeper areas.

And when the tide receipts, the sea level goes down,

and the waters flow out of the lagoon inlets once again.

During and after the fall

of the Western Roman Empire,

the inhabitants of the Venetian coastal plain

fled the invading barbarians

and came to live on the dozens of islands

surrounded by the shadow lagoon

for the protection it afforded.

Over the centuries, the lagoon became a natural base

for the great Venetian trading empire.

The Venetians built their city by driving giant oak poles

up to four meters into the muddy flats,

effectively petrifying and preserving them.

They put planks on top of these pillars

and marble foundations on top of the planks.

Over time, the Brenta and Sila rivers

deposited in the lagoon blocking the navigation channels,

and Venetians found it necessary to redirect the rivers

so they flow directly into the sea

instead of into the lagoon.

Large-scale naval engineering projects

including hydraulic pumping and the redirection of rivers

have been underway for centuries

and have altered the natural evolution of the lagoon,

creating canals and a number of artificial islands.

Battling high and low water

has been a part of Venetian life for hundreds of years.

The MOSE project, however, is the most complex

and massive naval engineering project in the city's history.

The idea that Venice could be protected from the sea

by a series of barriers began to gain traction in the 1970s.

Other surge barriers in London, Saint Petersburg, Russia,

and Rotterdam in the Netherlands

show that the concept could work,

but actually building it in Italy

proved far more complicated than expected.

Like all costly big engineering projects in Italy,

it encountered strong opposition from environmentalists,

became vulnerable to corruption

and fell into a web of contradictory local

and national powers.

When the project was first designed 30 years ago,

it was essentially an engineering project,

and so we approached the problem

in a very, let's say, hard way.

Today there are two sides to the project:

The engineering side, but also the environmental side.

Construction of the Venetian MOSE

began in 2003.

And the surge barrier is expected to be complete

and fully functional in 2018.

The MOSE project was tailor-made to protect Venice

with four major barriers installed

at the three main lagoon inlets

that connect the lagoon to the Adriatic sea.

The Venice surge barrier

consists of the 78 floating steel flood gates

arranged into four rows of various sizes,

widths and lengths.

They are all independently operated

and housed in tanks anchored to the sea floor.

Each gate lies horizontally on the sea bed when not in use.

But when the tides over 110 centimeters are predicted,

the barriers rise up on their hinges.

After the threat passes,

the air is released and the barriers can sink down again.

The flotation forces do most of the work,

think of them as buoyance,

which are submerged except for the last part.

So they are controlled with pressurized air

inside the barrier and absorb the force of the wave,

but the air inside the barrier compensates for it.

Over time, the MOSE project

morphed from being a purely engineering project

to encompass also the recovery of lagoon wetlands

that had been eroded over the centuries

and the recovery and restoration of Venice's ancient Arsenal

which became the control center of the whole project

now run by the construction Consorzio Venezia Nuova

or New Venice.

The work we have done over the last few years

has been varied:

Land recovery, reinforcement of the coastline,

decontamination, protection of polluted areas,

all this to regenerate and improve the lagoon

and the quality of its water.

Over the course

of a 15-year infrastructure project,

the work has often been bogged down by political quagmires

and kickback scandals.

One of the most vocal opponents of the MOSE project

is Luigi Lazzaro of Legambiente.

This model, this Italian style

of managing the bids and sub-bids in-house

that determine who gets the project

and then inflating the costs year after year

is a direct result of the new public works law.

Now we're up to 7 billion euros

with the MOSE maybe being completed in 2016,

then we'll see how much money it will cost in the future.

It is one of the most complex

and costly public works projects in Italian history.

The budget of the construction

is approximately 5.5 billion euros

spent over 10 to 15 years for construction.

In general terms,

we think maintenance will be 30 to 40 million euros a year.

But it is the MOSE surge barrier

that is at the heart of this massive new effort

to protect the Venice.

The heavy lift company, Fagioli,

was called in to move some of the key elements

of this massive engineering operation

together with construction company, Mantovani,

the Venice Water Authority

and the privately owned consortium, Venezia Nuova.

After centuries of devastating floods,

a plan to save Venice from the rising sea

and the sinking city finally surfaced.

Each of the 12,000 ton concrete housings

had to be moved from the building site

to the lagoon entrance.

While the Lido and Chioggia barrier housings

were built close to their final destination site,

the casings for the Malamocco lagoon entrance

were built far from where they were to be laid.

Moving the concrete barrier housings from the building site

to their designated place on the sea floor

and then installing the mobile barriers

was an Epic lifting job.

Fagioli first had to deliver a lifting structure

that would allow the casings built

for the Malamocco entrance to be lowered into the water

as the site could not be flooded like the others.

In order to sync the casings here,

the consortium built the largest synchrolift in the world,

made up of 26 beams, each 57 meters long,

activated by hydraulic winches

that could lower the casings underwater

so that they could in turn be lifted and transported.

The synchrolift is a synchronized elevator

that allows us to lower things in water,

structures that aren't only very large in size,

but above all, extremely heavy.

And with this lift, we can carry caissons,

they weigh up to 22,000 metric tons.

The massive cross beams of the synchrolift

were transported onto a specially designed barge

using self-propelled modular transporters.

They are equipped with dozens of wheels

that can rotate individually through 90 degrees

in order to move massive weights in any direction.

It took three to carry each of the beams to the barge

where they were loaded and taken to the construction site

where they were laid side-by-side

and attached to the massive hydraulic jacks

that provided the lifting and lowering power.

Fagioli was also contracted

to move some of the concrete caissons

from the Lido-Treporti building site.

In order to move the massive concrete caissons,

Fagioli engineers designed a unique tool for the job.

They designed a catamaran structure with two river barges

bound together with crossbeams equipped with strand jacks.

A special wedged-shaped connection

provided the catamaran with the necessary rigidity

to perform the massive lift.

The unit was designed and built at the Fagioli yards

at Cremona on the Po river

under the direction of Loris Giovannini.

The port of Cremona has been a very important location

for the MOSE project in that it had the shipyard

where the catamaran was preassembled.

The catamaran was constructed

out of two existing river barges

that were taken out of the water in the port of Cremona,

put in the dry dock in order to modify them

and utilize them as the catamaran.

In the port of Cremona,

the two crosshead beams were constructed.

They would constitute the catamaran.

Once assembled in the dry dock,

the whole catamaran was disassembled, and piece by piece,

barges and beams were transported to the Lido-Treporti.

For this heavy lift job,

the catamaran needed a total of 20 strand jacks

able to lift from 45 to 294 tons.

They do the heavy lifting of the concrete caissons.

Four strand jacks were used to sink the caissons.

There were four vertical strand jacks

that let us sink the caissons to the correct depth.

Then we used the 12 L50 strand jacks

with a capacity of 50 tons for the secondary boring.

That connected the caissons to the catamaran.

Then another four L300 strand jacks with a 300 ton capacity

were used for the primary boring system

which allowed the catamaran to move the caisson

to its final resting place.

The single most employed instrument

in all the transportation of the 12,000 ton caissons

of this mega project was the strand jack,

which uses an electrically activated hydraulic pulley

to raise massive weights

spread evenly among the dozens of cables lifting the load.

(soft music)

Strand jacks were famously used to pull the 100,000 tons

of the Costa Concordia over 12 hours

from a 60 degree list to the vertical

in the 2013 parbuckling operation.

(soft music)

In July of 2012, one of the massive concrete caissons

on which the individual floating barriers

were to be attached was ready to be moved.

Once ready, the basin was flooded

and the caisson started floating

but then had to be partially sunk

by pumping the air out of the tunnels built inside them.

Two tugboats dragged the caissons one at a time

out of the basin to a sheltered area.

(soft music)

Though the caissons were secure,

every safety precaution was taken

to make sure nothing went wrong.

Special propylene axle lines

were fixed to the special transport trailers

parked along either side of the shoreline.

They crawled along with a slowly moving caissons.

The heaviest lift of Italian history had begun.

Once the case since had arrived at the sheltered bay,

the tugboats were disconnected

and the launching operation began.

The two tugboats boats were hooked up to the catamaran.

The launching operations

involved connecting the lifting points of the caissons

to the catamaran for the so-called secondary mooring system.

The caisson was delivered to Fagioli already floating.

It had a dry weight of 12,500 tons.

It was connected to the catamaran alpha inside the basin

and then connected to the mooring system.

Once we reached the exact point of installation,

the caisson was ballasted until it became very heavy,

then it was dropped down to the sea floor

by the hydraulic pulleys or strand jacks.

Once the structure had been connected,

the catamaran was pushed by tugboats

until it arrived over the underwater primary mooring system.

Long wires called trench access lines

showed the pathway or line to follow

in order to get the concrete structure

over the trench curved in the sea floor

and reach the precise sinking point.

Once in position, the caissons were ballasted and sank

using strand jacks positioned onto the catamaran.

(soft music)

Water cushions previously positioned into the seabed

were filled, gently taking the load of the caissons

before they reached the bottom of the trench.

The bags were then deflated

allowing the placement of the caissons

in their final position.

Engineers used precise 3D computer models

to place the caissons with millimetric precision

and slide one against the other

to form a single watertight line.

Even the smallest error

could mean disaster for the MOSE project.

However, this was just the first stage in the massive move.

Once the caissons were lowered,

the floating barriers had to be attached.

This was a massive feat of engineering.

In 2003, the Italian government began investing billions

into a project called MOSE,

a massive barrier to control the tides

flowing in and out of Venice from the Adriatic sea.

Here at Lido-Treporti,

the MOSE construction site rises out of the sea

a massive gray wall of concrete.

But what is underwater and how does it work?

Twenty meters beneath the sea

are a series of massive concrete caissons.

Every barrier has its seven housing caissons,

and 21 gates and two service tunnels, one on each flank.

Workers who build and maintain

these undersea tunnels

take a lift to the bottom of the shaft.

It is an imposing labyrinth of metal concrete and cable.

There are two tunnels:

one for transport,

and another, a lateral service tunnel

in which repairs can be carried out in a hurry

if there is a leak.

Watertight rooms along the side of the tunnel

host the attachment mechanisms connected

through the watertight female housings

to the male part of the hinges

on the outside of the caisson round which the barriers move

when compressed air is pumped in to them.

Each of the hinge rooms is flanked by a service chamber

that allows a diver to enter the hinge room

to carry out any emergency repairs if it is flooded.

The watertight doors need to be checked regularly.

They must be kept closed at all times.

(soft music)

Each caisson was lowered and pulled against the next

with millimetric precision

so as to make the whole length of the undersea tunnel

completely watertight.

The next phase in building the MOSE

is positioning the mobile barriers.

Once again, the heavy lift company, Fagioli,

was called into play.

In this hangar in the Maghera Port shipyard South of Venice,

the massive yellow floodgate is finally ready to be moved.

If you think moving a piano is hard,

imagine this 210 ton steel box.

The whole process of moving the barrier out to sea

would take three full days.

Fagioli uses a special heavy lift transport vehicle

to slowly roll it out onto the awaiting barge.

It is a tedious and dangerous process to move such a beast.

Finally at dusk the barge transport it at a snail's pace

passing by San Marco after nightfall.

A brief glimpse of the very city it is destined to protect.

In order to do the final most delicate phase of installation

at daylight, the crew docks for the night.

(soft music)

Dawn rises over Venice.

The city of water is slowly wakes

doing its daily business by boat.

The barge with the great yellow gate heads out to sea

to its final resting place.

After we lowered the seven caissons,

Fagioli was also involved in the laying and installation

of the flood gates.

To do this, we utilized the scaffolding structure

that was constructed of trellis towers and beams

connected to the towers.

The tailor-made system

included four-tower structure

with two crosshead beams on top

each equipped with four strand jacks

necessary to lower this gigantic 210 ton barrier

into the water.

The support structure was called the fishing beam

as it would be used to hook the mobile barrier

with 14 by 14 axle lines.

The axle lines had to be perfectly constructed.

When the structures were ready,

a large barge equipped with four sets of gantries

was maneuvered into position

and then tower legs connected to a bottom frame

were joined to the four tower sections.

This was a delicate stage.

Every connection had to be precise to the millimeter.

Workers monitored every parameter using radar,

adjusting the cables and hydraulic pressure as needed.

The barge with the flood gates on board

was transported to the Lido-Treporti inlet,

and there it was floated under the force of strand jacks

mounted on the launching links.

The weight of the lifted flood gate

is almost 250 metric tons.

The strand jacks allowed the flood gates

to be lifted from the barge

and lowered onto the caisson on with millimetric precision.

Once the caissons had been laid,

the barges loaded with the barrier

were moved directly under the launching structure

so the fishing beam could hook the barrier.

After this, the area was cleared from the barge

and the barrier was lowered into the water

using the strand jacks.

Then the mobile barrier was freed from the support structure

and fixed to the caisson.

Any misstep could send a 200 ton gate

to the bottom of the sea.

Finally, the barge came back

to load the launching gantry system

and repeat the whole operation

with the other three barriers.

This will be done 78 times.

This is the old Arsenal,

ground zero of the fight to save Venice from sinking.

Once the former shipyard of the Republic of Venice,

today it is reclaiming its place

as the power center of the city.

Here in the main command

and control station of the MOSE project,

engineer Hermes Redi

is in charge of managing the MOSE's reaction

to the combination of high tides and adverse winds.

As we've said earlier,

the floods are caused by a combination of several events:

One is the normal tide,

the other is the southeasterly wind

which pushes the water towards the upper Adriatic,

and so, against the lagoon.

And lastly, there is a standing wave

which contributes to rising waters.

He works hand in hand

with the engineers and technicians of the city tide center

to analyze the meteorological and tidal data

coming into the control room.

It is here where the crucial decision is made

to close or open the 78 gates that make up the barrier.

The parameters of the screen

that you see on the upper left

are the monitors that give us the actual position

of every barrier, its position and its state

should need to activate them.

The central part is dedicated to the weather forecast.

All the other screens

give us information about the lagoon surroundings,

the Mediterranean and the Adriatic sea,

all the data near our area

that allows us to have a clear picture

of the meteorological situation.

There are many parameters

that determine exactly how many gates are opened,

where, and in what order.

We can see normal tides, high tides, very high tides,

and we can react to each individual situation differently.

Today, science and technology

allow for the forecasting of when flooding will happen,

but there is a deadline.

We are able to predict several days in advance

when a flood tide will occur

and to forecast the tides quite accurately.

But obviously as we get closer to the day of the flood tide,

our ability to forecast what will happen improves.

So, therefore, the real moment to decide

whether or not to close the lagoon with the flood barriers

happens about three hours before the event,

because at that time we can determine with total certainty

what is about to happen.

Multiple meteorological factors

must be calculated.

The decision was made to use the MOSE

only when the tide is at 110 centimeters

above average or higher.

Under this scenario, flooding will still occur.

Using various simulations,

Venice authorities are able to determine with precision

exactly what impact floodwaters of different levels

will have on their city.

Venice is underwater

and have a very small number of places

when the sea rises 80 centimeters

above the average sea level.

But the ares subject to this flooding, as you can see,

are the most famous areas of the city.

St. Mark's Square is the first to flood,

and Rialto immediately afterwards.

But when the water level rises

to 100 centimeters, one meter above average,

St. Mark's square is completely underwater

and some smaller streets begin to have some problems.

At 110 centimeters,

the famous rubber boots become a necessity

to get around the city.

At 130 centimeters, the city isn't completely flooded

but it is certainly completely impacted

which means that not only the ground floors

and not only the shops are flooded,

but the store rooms can't be used

and people can't get around freely.

At 140 centimeters,

rubber boots are no longer any help

and the city becomes extremely difficult to navigate.

But it is the Epic flood levels like that of 1966

that are the biggest worry.

Basically, in that situation,

Venice is completely underwater.

Once the MOSE has been activated,

the 78 single barriers emerge from the seabed

in groups of four,

effectively creating a wall between the lagoon and the sea.

A control system keeps the inclination of the gates

when closed at approximately 45 degrees,

constantly adjusting the water inside.

When it is time to open the barrier,

the gates are filled with water,

a process called ballasting.

They slowly come to rest flush with the seabed

invisible from above.

Massive hinges that weigh 42 tons

keep the gates attached to their bases.

There are small gaps, just a few centimeters wide,

which allow a little water through,

but more importantly, allow the gates to move

and rotate on their hinges as necessary.

In October of 2013, the first test was conducted on the MOSE

and the gates were raised ceremoniously out of the sea.

The precise data is boring,

but I can tell you that just by closing half of the inlet,

you could definitely see a lowering of the water level

inside the lagoon.

So the MOSE works, the tide was slow.

However, there is more to the MOSE

than simply massive engineering.

Over the years, despite the scandals attached to it,

the MOSE has contributed to restoring other areas

of the Venetian lagoon,

but even those efforts are not without controversy.

In an effort to preserve

the uncontaminated natural environment,

environmental groups often oppose big civil works

like the Venetian MOSE barriers.

In this case, however,

the ecosystem in question is far from natural.

Sediments carried by the many inland rivers

originated from the lagoon itself in ancient times

by sinking and consolidating below sea level.

For the MOSE, new concrete walls and embankments were built,

and even a brand new artificial island was created

at the Northern most Lido inlet

to host all the service buildings that control the barriers:

On one side of the island is a lock system,

a deep canal for tankers and cruise ships,

and on the other side is a shallower canal leading North.

However, not everyone agrees

that the lagoons should be open to large ships at all.

In Italy, there have already been disasters associated

with large naval vessels.

If one of these ships were to sink

in the lagoon close to Venice,

it would be catastrophic both for the environment

and the residents alike.

It has made the city slave

to the passing of these gigantic ships,

ships that could very possibly create

a legitimate threat of accident,

accidents like the ones that have unfortunately happened

in this country like on the Island of Giglio

with the Costa Concordia and the Port of Genoa,

two extremely grave incidents

that have created terrible damage.

If MOSE is to be successful,

it needs to be complimented by projects

that we restore the lagoon's natural structure

and build up its natural defenses.

The part of the project that concerns the lagoon

is one of the most urgent aspects of the work

because it is necessary for environmental restoration

of the deteriorated areas of the lagoon, but also the shore.

The moment in which the flood gates prevent the tide waters

from entering the lagoon from the sea,

the sea will spread out back along the shore

and so we had to reinforce the shore for this reason.

Some of these measures

include improving water quality by dredging the canals,

which improves the water exchange in the inner lagoon areas,

securing runoff from dumps and industrial areas,

reinforcing the seawalls

surrounding Venice's Island and canal banks

and restoring thousands of kilometers of salt marshes.

Polluted sediment was removed from canals,

but where was it taken?

There is concern due to some of the corruption scandals

surrounding the project

that the mud polluted by heavy metals

may not have been properly disposed of.

And what about the 49 kilometers of new beach,

where did it come from and who will manage it?

There is a risk here, just like in other places,

from the excavation that brings in in soil

from the Southern part of the lagoon

which is obviously polluted and has been since the '60s

by petrochemicals deposited in the seabed

from the Marghera industrial area.

Another concern is the impact MOSE closures

might have on the lagoon water quality.

It is the sea itself that is responsible

for keeping the lagoon waters clean

since there is no sewage system

and black water is released into the lagoon.

Some worry that closing the lagoon more frequently

could tip this delicate balance.

It's the job of the sea and the tides

to clean up the lagoon,

and they come into the lagoon

and they leave the lagoon twice a day.

Clean water comes in, picks up the waste

and takes it back out into the open sea.

Experts predict that sea levels

could rise between 25 and 50 centimeters

between now and the end of the century.

At the same time, Venice is sinking one millimeter annually.

The more frequent the floods,

the more often MOSE must be used.

The frequency of the flooding could increase significantly

between now and the end of the century.

So the need to close the MOSE barrier

could increase from the present five times a year

to up to 100, or 150 times a year, or even 200 times.

And closing the barrier so often

could have an impact

on the quality of the waters of the lagoon

and the city itself.

University of Padua professors

are proposing a companion solution to the MOSE,

an audacious plan to raise Venice

by pumping water into a soil and rock layer

beneath the city.

Our proposal is to raise the city by taking seawater

and building wells 700 to 800 meters deep,

and then pumping the water into the rocks at that depth.

Venice will rise.

We have calculated that over 10 years it could rise

as much as 25 to 30 centimeters very gradually.

Critics say the MOSE project

may go down in history

as little more than a concrete icon of corruption and waste

if it's unable to protect Venice.

It doesn't give any guarantees to the city

that it won't flood

because with a meter or a little over a meter

of water washing up here in Piazza San Marco,

the city already has problems.

And truth, this won't stop.

Either way, MOSE is here to stay.

While MOSE officials say corruption scandals

were reprehensible, that does not change the fact

that MOSE is a naval engineering feat

of incredible proportions.

The work, in my opinion,

is of extraordinary seriousness and quality.

You have to think that for the caissons

that are 60 by 40 by 28 structures,

we have tolerances of less than one centimeter.

In the last year,

we put down 18 of these caissons one every 15 days

without airing by one second

or one centimeter from our plan.

The MOSE construction is permanent

together with all its accessory parts,

and we'll have to live with it

even if it's unable to respond to climate change,

which it seems is about to happen.

We're all waiting in anticipation,

it could be 2016, 2017, 2018,

waiting for the moment

when we'll know for sure if it really works

so we can test if the project will be able to keep

a significant amount of the flooding out.

After it had been pushed back several times

due to the ongoing public works investigation underway,

the Consortium of New Venice

has determined a new June, 2018 date

for completion of the MOSE project.

The whole project is about 87% constructed.

It's missing the last three rows of floodgates

that they'll need to install by the end of 2015.

Although there is some uncertainty

about how effectively MOSE will protect the city of Venice,

7 billion euros have been spent,

and the project is currently the best hope the city has

of not being swallowed up

by the very lagoon to which it owes its fame.

Without doubt, the MOSE project

has been a marvel of engineering

that has utilized the toughest machines and technologies

that the maritime construction world has to offer.

If it does work to save Venice

from more frequent devastating floods,

visitors from all over the world

will still have the opportunity

to admire this wondrous city of water for decades to come.

(soft orchestral music)