121-540: MOSE ( Italian : Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico , lit. 'Experimental Electromechanical Module') is a project intended to protect the city of Venice , Italy, and the Venetian Lagoon from flooding . The project is an integrated system consisting of rows of mobile gates , installed on the seafloor at the Lido , Malamocco , and Chioggia inlets, that can be raised to temporarily seal off
242-582: A Crucifixion by Palma the Elder . Fishing is historically the livelihood of the port, and remains a significant economic sector. Other important modern industries include textiles, brick-making and steel; and Sottomarina, with 60 hotels and 17 campgrounds, is almost entirely given over to seafront tourism. During the third week end of June, the festival of Palio della Marciliana takes place. Chioggia represents an almost unique demographic case in Italy:
363-689: A local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it
484-602: A construction site to fabricate the gate housing structures, as for the Lido north inlet barrier. Positioning for the gate housing structures was completed in October 2014. Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from
605-408: A high tide is forecast, compressed air is introduced into the gates to empty them of water, causing them to rotate around the axis of the hinges and rise up until they emerge above the water to stop the tide from entering the lagoon. When the tide recedes, the gates are filled with water again and lowered into their housing. The inlets are closed for an average of between four and five hours, including
726-402: A highly delicate environmental context so as to avoid interfering with the surrounding area as far as possible. The sites have been set up on temporary areas of water in order to limit occupation of the land adjacent to the inlets and reduce as far as possible the effect on activities taking place there. Materials (for example, site supplies) and machines are also moved via sea to avoid overloading
847-565: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
968-417: A length varying between 18.5 and 29 metres (61 and 95 ft) and from 3.6 to 5 metres (12 to 16 ft) thick. The gates are connected to the concrete housing structures with hinges, the technological heart of the system, which allow the gates to move while attached to the housing structures on the seafloor. Under normal tidal conditions, the gates are full of water and rest in their housing structures. When
1089-471: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
1210-658: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
1331-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
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#17327651609001452-522: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
1573-419: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Chioggia#Main sights Chioggia ( Italian: [ˈkjɔddʒa] ; Venetian : Cioxa [ˈtʃɔza] , locally [ˈtʃoza] ; Latin : Clodia )
1694-479: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
1815-513: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
1936-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
2057-599: Is a coastal town and comune (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy . The town is situated on a small island at the southern entrance to the Lagoon of Venice about 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of Venice (50 km (31 mi) by road); causeways connect it to the mainland and to its frazione , nowadays a quarter, of Sottomarina . The population of
2178-759: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
2299-426: Is also worsened by rain and water flowing into the lagoon from the drainage basin at 36 inflow points associated with small rivers and canals. Floods have caused damage since ancient times and have become ever more frequent and intense as a result of the combined effect of eustatism (a rise in sea level) and subsidence (a drop in land level) caused by natural and man-induced phenomena. Today, towns and villages in
2420-534: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
2541-460: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
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#17327651609002662-462: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
2783-648: Is part of a General Plan of Interventions to safeguard Venice and the lagoon. The project was begun in 1987 by the Ministry of Infrastructure through the Venice Water Authority (the Ministry's operational arm in the lagoon) and the concessionary Consorzio Venezia Nuova . The measures already completed or underway along the coastline and in the lagoon are the most important environmental defense, restoration, and improvement program ever implemented by
2904-448: Is responsible for the work on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport – Venice Water Authority. Construction began simultaneously in 2003. On 10 July 2020, the first full test was successfully completed, and after multiple delays, cost overruns, and scandals resulted in the project missing both its 2018 completion deadline (originally a 2011 deadline) and its 2021 deadline, and is now to be finished in 2025. On 3 October 2020,
3025-594: Is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as
3146-549: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
3267-509: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
3388-991: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
3509-555: The Comitatone . In 2002 the final design was presented and on 3 April 2003, the Comitatone gave the go-ahead for its implementation. The same year, construction sites opened at the three lagoon inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Construction of MOSE was authorised by the "Comitatone" on 3 April 2003 and the associated construction sites opened the same year. Work began simultaneously and continues in parallel at
3630-702: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
3751-674: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
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3872-773: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
3993-1033: The Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak a local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
4114-554: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
4235-773: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and the Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and
4356-528: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
4477-497: The comune is around 50,000, with the town proper accounting for about half of that and Sottomarina for most of the rest. The municipality, located in south of the province, close to the provinces of Padua and Rovigo , borders with Campagna Lupia , Cavarzere , Codevigo , Cona , Correzzola , Loreo , Rosolina and Venice . Chioggia and Sottomarina were not prominent in antiquity, although they are first mentioned in Pliny as
4598-480: The fossa Clodia . Local legend attributes this name to its founding by a Clodius , but the origin of this belief is not known. The name of the town has changed often, being Clodia, Cluza, Clugia, Chiozza, Chiozzo, Chioggio, and Chioggia. The most ancient documents naming Chioggia date from the 6th century AD, when it was part of the Byzantine Empire . Chioggia was destroyed by King Pippin of Italy in
4719-532: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
4840-510: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
4961-562: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
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5082-547: The 9th century, but rebuilt around a new industry based on salt pans . In the Middle Ages, Chioggia proper was known as Clugia major , whereas Clugia minor was a sand bar about 600 m further into the Adriatic. A free commune and an episcopal see from 1110, it had later an important role in the so-called War of Chioggia between Genoa and Venice, being conquered by Genoa in 1378 and finally by Venice in June 1380. Although
5203-642: The Environment" Project), which included mobile barriers at the inlets to regulate tides in the lagoon. In this context, between 1988 and 1992, experiments were carried out on a prototype gate ( MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico , hence the name MOSE) and in 1989, a conceptual design for the mobile barriers was drawn up. This was completed in 1992 and subsequently approved by the Higher Council of Public Works then subjected to an Environmental Impact Assessment procedure and further developed as requested by
5324-579: The Italian State. In parallel with the construction of MOSE, the Venice Water Authority and Venice Local Authority are raising quaysides and paving in the city in order to protect built-up areas in the lagoon from medium high tides (below 110 centimetres (43 in), the height at which the mobile barriers will come into operation). These measures are extremely complex, particularly in urban settings such as Venice and Chioggia where
5445-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
5566-489: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
5687-596: The Lido inlet, the widest, there are two barrier rows of 21 and 20 gates, respectively, linked by an artificial island (the island connecting the two rows of gates at the centre of the Lido inlet also accommodates the technical buildings housing the system operating plant). In addition, there is one row of 19 gates at the Malamocco inlet and one row of 18 gates at the Chioggia inlet. The gates consist of metal box-type structures 20 metres (66 ft) wide for all rows, with
5808-526: The MOSE was activated for the first time in the occurrence of a high tide event, preventing some of the low-lying parts of the city (in particular piazza San Marco ) from being flooded. In 2020, the experts who had conceived a set of three floodgates separating the Adriatic Sea from Venice estimated that each year they would have to raise the floodgates 5 times. Within two years after the inaugural raising of
5929-556: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
6050-712: The President of the Council of Ministers and consisting of representatives of the competent national and local authorities and institutions) and entrusted design and implementation to a single body, the Consorzio Venezia Nuova , recognising its ability to manage the safeguarding activities as a whole. The Venice Water Authority – Consorzio Venezia Nuova presented a complex system of interventions to safeguard Venice (the REA "Riequilibrio E Ambiente", "Rebalancing and
6171-438: The Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea during acqua alta high tides. Together with other measures, such as coastal reinforcement, elevating of quaysides , and paving and improvement of the lagoon, MOSE is designed to protect Venice and the lagoon from tides of up to 3 metres (9.8 ft). As of 2023, the floodgates are raised for tides forecast to be more than 1.30 metres (4 ft 3 in). The Consorzio Venezia Nuova
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#17327651609006292-405: The abutment connections for each barrier have been built). In April 2014, the lock for the transit of large ships becomes operative to avoid interference with port activities when the gates are in operation. Positioning of the gate housing structures for the Malamocco barrier was completed in October 2014. The seabed in the area where the 19 gates will be installed has been reinforced. Outside
6413-407: The areas at the edge of the urban centre, completed previously, the babyMose is able to defend from tides up to 130 cm. The babyMose was completed in time to keep the center of Chioggia dry during the high water of October 2012. In the case of more extreme high waters, it is necessary to wait for the main MOSE to come into operation, which blocks the entrance of the tide into the lagoon through
6534-435: The call for tender and passed them to a group of experts commissioned to draw up a project to preserve the hydraulic balance of the lagoon and protect Venice from floods (the "Progettone" of 1981). A few years later, a further Special Law (Law no. 798/1984) emphasised the need for a unified approach to safeguarding measures, set up a committee for policy, coordination and control of these activities (the "Comitatone", chaired by
6655-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
6776-403: The case of exceptional tides, by closing just one inlet at a time, or by partially closing each inlet—given that the gates are independent—for medium-high tides. Following the flood of 4 November 1966 when Venice, Chioggia and the other built-up areas in the lagoon were submerged by a tide of 194 centimetres (76 in), the first Special Law for Venice declared the problem of safeguarding
6897-450: The city since 1935: levels of 140 cm or greater have been recorded during the following floods, with 12 of the 20 events occurring in the 21st century: Prior to 1936, the highest levels had been in 1879, when on 25 February the water reached 137.5 cm, and on 21 November 1916, when a level of 136 cm occurred. Since 1936, there have been 17 occasions when the level reached between 130 and 140 cm. All values were recorded at
7018-479: The city to be of "priority national interest". This marked the beginning of a long legislative and technical process to guarantee Venice and the lagoon an effective sea defence system. To this end, in 1975 the State Ministry of Public Works issued a competitive tender, but the process ended without a project being chosen from those presented as no hypothesis for action satisfied all the mandated requirements. The Ministry subsequently acquired documents presented during
7139-501: The closure of the MOSE barriers. The babyMose, as well as the other interventions of protection and urban redevelopment implemented in Chioggia in recent years, was carried out by the Magistrate of the Waters of Venice, through the Consorzio Venezia Nuova, together with the municipal administration. The aim of MOSE is to protect the lagoon, its towns, villages, and inhabitants along with its iconic historic, artistic, and environmental heritage from floods, including extreme events. Although
7260-455: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
7381-405: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
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#17327651609007502-408: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
7623-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
7744-415: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
7865-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
7986-420: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
8107-420: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
8228-448: The environment of the smaller islands; and dredge lagoon canals and channels. Important activities are also underway to redress pollution in the industrial area of Porto Marghera , at the edge of the central lagoon. Islands formerly used as rubbish dumps are being secured while industrial canals are being consolidated and sealed after removal of their polluted sediments . 'Baby MOSE' is the flood defence system protecting Chioggia from
8349-409: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
8470-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
8591-402: The floodgates, MOSE was activated 49 times. Before the acronym was used to describe the entire flood protection system, MOSE referred to the 1:1 scale prototype of a gate that had been tested between 1988 and 1992 at the Lido inlet. The name also holds a secondary meaning: "MOSE" alludes to the biblical character Moses ("Mosè" in Italian), who is remembered for parting the Red Sea . MOSE
8712-400: The foundations of quaysides and buildings. In the future, the high water phenomenon may be further aggravated by the predicted rise in sea level as a result of global warming . In this context, MOSE, together with reinforcement of the barrier island, has been designed to provide protection from tides of up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in height. The aim of MOSE is to protect the lagoon, even if
8833-476: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
8954-422: The gates will be raised for tides of more than 110 centimetres (43 in) high. The authorities have established this as the optimum height with respect to current sea levels, but the gates can be operated for any level of tide. The MOSE system is flexible: depending on the winds, atmospheric pressure and level of tide, it can oppose the high water in different ways – with simultaneous closure of all three inlets in
9075-465: The great flood ) when a tide of 194 centimetres (76 in) submerged Venice, Chioggia and the other built-up areas. Floods effects are exacerbated due to greater erosion by the sea caused by human interventions to facilitate port activities (e.g. through the construction of jetties and artificial canals); establishment of the industrial Porto Marghera area; and increased wash from motorized boats, which all aggravate erosion of morphological structures and
9196-438: The housing structures to be floated out. The housing structures for the gates in the north barrier (seven housing structures and two for the abutment connections) were positioned on the seabed. Four of this barrier's gates were installed and manoeuvred for the first time in October 2013; at the end of 2014, the installation of 21 gates was completed and operational for functional testing purposes (the so-called "blank tests"). At
9317-414: The inlet, a 1,300-metre (4,300 ft) long curved breakwater designed to attenuate tidal currents and define a basin of calm water to protect the lock has been completed. Work has been completed to construct a small craft harbour with double lock to guarantee transit of a large number of fishing vessels when the gates are in operation. The sea-side basin has been temporarily drained and sealed for use as
9438-540: The inlets, fabrication of the main components of MOSE (the hinges, the technological heart of the system which constrain the gates to their housing and allow them to move, and the gates) is also proceeding. Restructuring of the buildings and spaces in the area of the Venice Arsenal where maintenance of MOSE and management of the system will be located is also underway. Construction of MOSE at the inlets necessitates complex logistical organisation. These are located in
9559-489: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
9680-419: The lagoon are an average of 23 centimetres (9.1 in) lower with respect to the water level than at the beginning of the 1900s and each year, thousands of floods cause serious problems for the inhabitants as well as deterioration of architecture, urban structures and the ecosystem. Over the entire lagoon area, there is also a constant risk of an extreme catastrophic event such as that of 4 November 1966 (
9801-640: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
9922-498: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
10043-534: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
10164-567: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
10285-462: The monitoring station at Punta della Salute ( Punta della Dogana ) and refer to the 1897 tidal datum point. The highest tide in over five decades on 13 November 2019 left 85% of the city flooded. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro blamed the situation on climate change . A Washington Post report provided a more thorough analysis: "The sea level has been rising even more rapidly in Venice than in other parts of
10406-406: The most common surname among the inhabitants of Chioggia is Zennaro, while the most common surnames of Sottomarina are Boscolo and Tiozzo. Because of the large number of people with the same surname, the comune officialized what is known as "detto" (popular nicknames used to distinguish the various branches of the same family). These "third names" are inserted in every official document, including
10527-632: The most frequently occurring high waters, up to a maximum of 130 cm. Completed in the summer of 2012, it consists of two movable sluices located at the ends of the Vena canal - the canal that crosses the centre of Chioggia from North to South. These can be raised in a few minutes and protect the center of Chioggia from the most frequent high waters. The two sluices (Vigo and Santa Maria) are equal, 18 m long, 3.3 wide and 80 cm thick; in case of threatening tides, they are raised in eight minutes using hydraulic motors. Together with raising canal banks and
10648-489: The most pessimistic hypotheses are proven true, such as a rise in sea level of at least 60 centimetres (24 in). However, the reports have grown more pessimistic with time compared to when MOSE was originally planned; the 2019 estimate from the IPCC ( Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ) predicts a rise in sea level of between 60 and 110 centimetres (24 and 43 in) by 2100 if emissions continue to increase, which MOSE
10769-820: The municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and
10890-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
11011-428: The north of the inlet (Treporti), a small craft harbour consisting of two basins communicating through a lock, will allow small craft and emergency vessels to shelter and transit when the gates are raised. The sea-side basin was temporarily drained and sealed for use as the site to construct the gate housing structures for this barrier. Once the housing structures had been completed, the area was flooded with water to allow
11132-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
11253-590: The official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and the language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During
11374-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
11495-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
11616-458: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
11737-471: The period of its greatest prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries. The church dedicated to St. Mary of the Assumption , founded in the eleventh century, became a cathedral in 1110, then was rebuilt as Chioggia Cathedral from 1623 by Baldassare Longhena . The church of St. Andrew (18th century) has a bell tower from the 11th-12th centuries, the most ancient tower watch in the world. The interior has
11858-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
11979-523: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
12100-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
12221-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
12342-404: The raising must take account of the delicate architectural and monumental context. Measures to improve the shallow lagoon environment are aimed at slowing degradation of the morphological structures caused by subsidence, eustatism , and erosion due to waves and wash. Work is underway throughout the lagoon basin to protect, reconstruct, and renaturalise salt marshes, mud flats and shallows; restore
12463-542: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
12584-485: The road system along the coast. Since the sites opened, all work has been carried out without interrupting transit through the inlet channels. Below is a description of the work underway and already completed at each inlet, listed in order from North to South. There will be two rows of gates at the Lido inlet (21 mobile gates for the North barrier Lido-Treporti and 20 mobile gates for the South barrier Lido-San Nicolò). To
12705-440: The south of the inlet (San Nicolò), the launch and the positioning of seven housing structures and two for the abutment connections has been completed (the structures have been fabricated on a temporary raised area in the Malamocco inlet and will be taken out to sea by a giant mobile platform which functions as a giant elevator). At the centre of the inlet, a new island has been constructed to act as an intermediate structure between
12826-473: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
12947-409: The three inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Work on the structural parts (foundations, mobile barrier abutments, gate housing structures), associated structures (breakwaters, small craft harbours, locks) and parts for operating the system (technical buildings, plant) is now at an advanced stage. Currently about 4000 people are employed in the construction of MOSE. As well as the construction sites at
13068-469: The tide in the lagoon basin is lower than in other areas of the world (where it may reach as high as 20 metres (66 ft)), the phenomenon may become significant when associated with atmospheric and meteorological factors such as low pressure and the bora , a north-easterly wind coming from Trieste , or the Sirocco , a hot south-easterly wind. Those conditions push waves into the gulf of Venice. High water
13189-545: The time taken for the gates to be raised (about 30 minutes) and lowered (about 15 minutes). To guarantee navigation and avoid interruption of activities in the Port of Venice, when the mobile barriers are in operation, a main lock is constructed at the Malamocco inlet to allow the transit of large ships; while at the Lido and Chioggia inlets, there are smaller locks to allow emergency vessels, fishing boats and pleasure craft to shelter and transit. Operating procedure dictates that
13310-469: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
13431-542: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
13552-408: The town remained largely autonomous, it was always thereafter subordinate to Venice. On 14 March 1381, Chioggia concluded an alliance with Zadar and Trogir against Venice, and finally Chioggia became better protected by Venice in 1412, because Šibenik became in 1412 the seat of the main customs office and the seat of the salt consumers office with a monopoly on the salt trade in Chioggia and on
13673-444: The two rows of mobile gates. This island will accommodate the buildings and plant for operating the gates (construction underway). Outside the inlet, a 1,000-metre (3,300 ft) long curved breakwater is almost complete. A temporary construction site has been set up alongside the basin to fabricate the gate housing structures to be positioned on the sea bed (Malamocco and Lido San Nicolò barriers, seven housing structures and two for
13794-409: The whole Adriatic Sea . Until the 19th century, women in Chioggia wore an outfit based on an apron which could be raised to serve as a veil . Chioggia is also known for lace-making ; like Pellestrina , but unlike Burano , this lace is made using bobbins . Chioggia served Carlo Goldoni as the setting of his play Le baruffe chiozzotte , one of the classics of Italian literature: a baruffa
13915-456: The world. At the same time, the city is sinking, the result of tectonic plates shifting below the Italian coast. Those factors together, along with the more frequent extreme weather events associated with climate change, contribute to floods." MOSE consists of rows of mobile gates on the seabed at the three inlets that can be raised to temporarily seal off the lagoon from the sea during high tide. There are 78 gates grouped into four barrier rows. At
14036-526: Was a loud brawl, and chiozzotto (today more frequently chioggiotto in Italian , or cioxoto in Venetian ) is the demonym for Chioggia. Goldoni took his setting seriously: the play is replete with lacemaking, fishermen, and other local color. Chioggia is often called " Little Venice ", with a few canals, chief among them the Canale Vena, and the characteristic narrow streets known as calli . Chioggia has several medieval churches, much reworked in
14157-561: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
14278-525: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
14399-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
14520-477: Was not designed to handle. MOSE is flexible and can be operated in different ways according to the characteristics and height of the tide. Given that the gates are independent and can be operated separately, all three inlets can be closed in the case of an exceptional event, the inlets can be closed one at a time according to the winds, atmospheric pressure and height of tide forecast, or again, each inlet can be partially closed. Exceptionally high waters have struck
14641-658: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
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