The Moment

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For a thousand years, venice's fate has been inextricably tied to water: the city famous for its canals is even shaped like a fish, with an imposing tail bifurcating at the Isola di San Pietro. Over the centuries, the Venetians' empire-building navies gave them grandiose reason to stage an annual Marriage with the Sea--the doge on board a gilded galley flinging a ring into the lagoon in mythic matrimony. Last week, however, the sea wanted more than a ring: the Adriatic appeared to be reeling in all of Venice itself, grabbing at it with the worst floods La Serenissima has seen in more than 20 years.

For several days, wintry rains, pushy winds and high tides combined to inundate much of Venice's scarce solid ground. At one point, the sea level was more than five feet higher than normal; water sloshed into every part of the city. The Piazza San Marco was submerged, as were all embankments. Venice barely had time to haul out the wooden planks it sets up to help pedestrians navigate flooding. Sometimes only yellow do not cross tape separated pavement from canal.

The waters have been rising precipitously, of course, since the middle of the 20th century. Global warming may be a culprit, but simply cutting carbon emissions isn't going to keep the city from drowning. An immense and intricate flood-control system is in the works. Evocatively called MOSES, an acronym for its Italian name, the $5.3 billion project is about half done, but it's not scheduled for completion till 2014. Financing has slowed construction: at one time, Venice had to sell off some of its venerated palazzi to raise money. But, says Rafael Bras, dean of the engineering school at the University of California at Irvine and chair of the committee overseeing MOSES, another change in the global climate is helping. The worldwide financial crisis has prompted governments to throw vast amounts of money into public works to stimulate their economies. And so MOSES is finally getting its share. Who knew the Adriatic wanted that kind of bailout?