article_snippet: Venice entered our bloodstream that trip.
article_snippet: Because this impossible city of palazzos and cathedrals is built atop wooden posts driven into the muddy floor of a lagoon, Venice has been slowly sinking since Casanova canoodled down Venice canals.
article_snippet: When aquifers were tapped to build massive petrochemical plants on the nearby mainland, Venice sank faster.
article_snippet: And then folks noticed that the sea level was on a slow but steady rise.
article_snippet: In the 1920s, there were about 400 incidents of acqua alta, or high water, when the right mix of tides and winds drives the liquid streets up into homes and shops in the lowers parts of Venice.
article_snippet: But, the Italians have a plan.
article_snippet: Since a plan was hatched, low-lying cities from Miami to Mumbai have taken a keen interest to see if the idea can work.
article_snippet: And on one early morning in 2014, police rounded up 35 people at the highest levels of MOSE, including Giorgio Orsoni, the mayor of Venice.
article_snippet: But while I went back to Venice to do a story on rising water, instead I found a surprising drama about the rising tide of humanity.
article_snippet: People know Venice is special and fragile, so People come -- to the tune of 20 million tourists a year.
article_snippet: Meanwhile, the watery headaches and cost of living has created a mass exodus of native Venetians: 100,000 have moved to the mainland in a single generation, and around 60,000 remain.
article_snippet: On a busy summer day, in the most popular section of Venice, tourists can outnumber Venetians 600-1.
article_snippet: When a cruise ship dumps thousands of people into Venice at once, thousands of people squeeze down jammed medieval streets where purveyors of overpriced pizza and cheap masks have replaced the shops of artists and artisans.
article_snippet: People have been worrying about the impending death of Venice for centuries, but the place is in trouble, now more than ever.
article_snippet: And in an age of rising seas and exploding populations, Venice is a test.  
article_snippet: A test to preserve beauty, history and harmony from the greatest threats: time, tide and greed.
highlights_snippet: Venice, Italy, has slowly been sinking .
  
highlights_snippet: Venice is testing a new system that would combat the rising tides .
  