According to CNN, when the city was locked down, “Venetians noticed that the water in the city’s canals was clearer than before, with small fish swimming around.” Many people posted pictures of Venice these days to a Facebook group called Venezia Pulita (roughly translated as “Clean Venice”), attracting the attention of many others.
The canals are turning clear again, a jade green color.
Twitter users have made similar observations, saying that for the first time in 60 years, Venice is green again, attracting wild boars to the city, dolphins in the port of Cagliari, ducks swimming in the fountain in the middle of Rome… after a long period of pollution due to over-exploitation of tourism. Nature is reclaiming its space during the lockdown in Italy.
Travel blogger Ly Thanh Co's fanpage shared about Venice during the pandemic: "On the Venice canals in recent days, dolphins, swans and schools of fish have returned. The pollution level from tourist boats has decreased, making the water, which is murky and has many oil stains, clear and fish can be seen below. In the middle of San Marco, wild boars walk around as if there were no people."
However, the Venice Mayor's Office said the change was not necessarily due to improved environmental quality. "The water appears clearer because there is less traffic on the canals, allowing sediment to settle deeper into the water," said a spokesman for the Venice Mayor. On the other hand, even without boats passing through the canals to scare away dolphins, water quality will still take a long time to improve.
