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10 July 2010Disturbing the SerenityTag(s): Marketing, HistoryI recently visited Venice with my daughter as part of an unstructured programme over the years of showing her some of the world’s great cities. We have been to New York and Rome together and I would have taken her to Paris and Florence but her schools got there first and did a poor job by all accounts. Venice, La Serenissima, is one of my very favourite cities. It may be overcrowded and over priced. It can even be smelly. All cities are unique in some way but Venice is unique in its uniqueness. The best cities are all built on the water’s edge, either by a river bank, a lake side or on the sea coast. But Venice is built on the water.
For over 500 years Venice was a Republic with an elected leader with no hereditary rights. It took Napoleon to bring this to an end as yet one more of his war crimes. Throughout its history Venice has needed restoration compounded by its unusual foundations. Floods in the 1960s brought this to a crisis and a major international appeal raised funds for the cleaning of historic buildings, statues and paintings. Funds raised are coordinated under the auspices of UNESCO. At present subsidence seems to be held at bay.
Venice receives 14 million visitors a year and so one can understand the commercial attractions of such sites. One can also understand that commercial funds are sought to support such restoration activities. But it is truly offensive to the eye. Perhaps these European brands could have learnt from Hyundai in Korea which bought ad space on the Seoul Metro and left it vacant, simply to give consumers some respite. Venice is traditionally so careful in managing its image. For example, Burger King is only allowed to operate if its usually vulgar external image is restrained and only apparent once you enter the restaurant.
How could they let it happen?
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