MOSE
Mobile Flood Barriers Protecting Venice (Italy)
Venice, Italy
Highlight
Retractable seabed barriers that rise to protect Venice from high tides and flooding ('acqua alta').
Extended description
MOSE (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) is a system of mobile barriers that protects Venice from the flooding caused by exceptionally high tides ('acqua alta'). Rows of hinged gates lie on the seabed at the lagoon inlets and rise to block incoming water when a dangerous tide is forecast, then lower again. It is a large, complex coastal-defence infrastructure designed to shield a historic city increasingly exposed to sea-level rise and storms.