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Christopher Livesay: Italy to ban mammoth cruise ships from Venice
Declaring Venice's waterways a "national monument," Italy is banning mammoth cruise liners from sailing into the lagoon city, which risked being declared an imperiled world heritage site by the United Nations later this month.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the ban was urgently adopted at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday and will take effect Aug. 1. It applies to the lagoon basin near St. Mark's Square and the Giudecca Canal, which is a major marine artery in Venice.
Franceschini said the government decided to act fast "to avoid the concrete risk" that the U.N. culture agency UNESCO would…
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