High Tide in Venice

About as often as high tide -- 650 times a year -- cruise ships call in Venice. As if the "Pearl of the Mediterranean" were not facing enough challenges from climate change and ground-water depletion, ships now regularly scrape by, disgorge thousands of passengers, and rumble out again. As with any such disaster, some Venetians are gaining enough in the short term to ignore the damage being wrought. The inimitable (though often imitated) Sylvia Poggioli tells the tale.