Venezia risorgi

In Venice there's a saying… when there are no more Venetians in Venice, only the stones will remain.

We reflected a lot on these words, and I believe they represent exactly the message we wanted to convey through the footage we shot during the days of the Acqua Alta.

There hadn't been such a high tide in over 50 years, and this time it caught everyone off guard, bringing the city to its knees. The peak of 187 centimetres was reached on 12 November — the highest figure since the same month of 1966, when the tide submerged Venice reaching 194 centimetres.
We found a half-deserted city, and we tried to convey through this video the emotions we felt that evening in St Mark's Square, hearing the sirens announcing the arrival of the tide.

In those days Venice was portrayed by the media and tourists in a light we didn't like, far from the image of Venice we hold.
The voice you hear at the beginning is the City, between the sirens and the high water, asking us to listen — but it is not a cry for help. It is the conviction that the future will be better, and that to reach that future no one helps you but yourself, plunging your hands into the mud to rebuild.

The video is called Venezia risorgi (Venice, rise again) because we felt the need to bear witness to the will to be reborn, showing the world that Venice is a city made of people who live every day in beauty but who, at the same time, must face problems other cities don't have.
Venice's gold is the people who give it life every day and who stubbornly always rise again despite adversity.

Our Facebook post received more than 2,000 shares, proof that with this video we touched an important feeling in people, tied to their love for this city and their strong sense of belonging.

Thanks to this video we received the best video storytelling special mention at the Digital Media Fest. Here's the list of winners.