Almost a thousand years before the Industrial Revolution touched off processes that are now threatening the climate of our earth, Venice began developing policies and institutions for surviving as an independent city-state in the midst of her lagoon. Venice and the Water surveys those policies and institutions for managing natural resources, a scientific approach that kept private interests secondary to those of the commonwealth. In tracing Venice’s past greatness and present crisis, Bevilacqua recommends her past economic and political choices as a model for our world today.

“The value of Bevilacqua's book was and still is that it explains the exceptional complexity of the problem that is Venice. His analysis clearly sets forth the priorities for the task of rescue.” —Massimo Cacciari, Mayor of Venice

 

This English Language edition of Venice and the Water was translated by Charles A.Ferguson who is a graduate of Western Reserve Academy (Hudson, Ohio), Oberlin College (AB) and Ohio State University (MA, PhD). He taught French and Italian at Colby College from 1967 to 1995, offering occasional courses in translating.