On the contribution of tidal floods on damp walls of Venice

The city of Venice, Italy, has historically coped with tidal flooding and is an example of a resilient system, but today the disruptive effects of relative sea level rise pose even more complex challenges. Some of the most significant damage to the city's historic architectural assets is related to the effects of salty water on masonry due to rising damp and tidal flooding. This paper evaluates the entity and distribution of rising damp in seven Venetian brick masonries by quantifying moisture content, soluble salt content, and ion distribution. The distribution is compared with previous literature data and related to tidal and meteorological data recorded prior to sampling. The results show that frequent tidal flooding exacerbates rising damp phenomena within building masonry, resulting in higher moisture contents both in height and depth. Possible future scenarios of relative sea level based on models and the effects of countermeasures such as the MOSE dam are discussed about the likely damage to masonry exposed to rising damp and tidal flooding.