UNESCO Recommends Putting Italy's Venice on Heritage Danger List

Venice, one of Italy's most popular tourist attractions, has been recommended by UNESCO to be added to the heritage danger list due to its fragility.

In a statement, UNESCO said: "The effects of the continuing deterioration due to human intervention, including continuing development, the impacts of climate change, and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes to the outstanding universal value of the property."

The recommendation to add Venice to the World Heritage in Danger list was made by UNESCO and advisory body experts in their provisional agenda for the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, scheduled for September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The draft resolution highlights the lack of progress in addressing persistent issues related to mass tourism, development projects, and climate change, which are causing deterioration and damage to the city's buildings and urban areas, degrading its cultural and social identity, and threatening its cultural, environmental, and landscape attributes and values.

In response, the Venetian authorities said they would carefully read the recommendation and speak to the Italian government, “which is the state party with which Unesco relates”.