“The Mystery of Venice’s Spooky Green Grand Canal”

[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, May 31, 2023]The water of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, suddenly turned fluorescent green on May 28, attracting global attention, and the police urgently intervened in the investigation. On May 30, Italian authorities announced that the green color was artificial and that the ingredient was fluorescein, a nontoxic dye commonly used in eye exams.

Fluorescein is readily available in online stores. Venice’s local newspaper La Nuova reported that 250 grams of luciferin was enough to create the effect seen on Sunday.

a spooky green

In Venice on Sunday, people are lazy under the warm sunshine, and tourists are in groups of three or four, bustling across bridges, small bridges, or sitting on ships of all sizes passing through the waterway.

Suddenly, people on and along the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge were surprised to find that the water had turned green, a dazzling fluorescent green. The firefighters who received the alarm quickly took the water samples and sent them to the local environmental protection agency for analysis.

Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region, announced on Tuesday that the green ingredient is the non-toxic fluorescein. He promised to announce later this week the dose of fluorescein responsible for the discoloration.

Who did it?

Venice hosted the Vogalonga Long Distance Boat Race last weekend. It is a biennial festival that restores traditional Venetian culture, raises environmental awareness, and promotes nature and historic buildings. Those who dye the green river choose this time to start, which can attract people’s attention to the greatest extent.

However, the police have not yet found the perpetrator, and no organization or individual has publicly admitted that the dyeing of the green river was done by themselves. But Venice city council members believe the culprit must be environmentalists.

Environmental groups are active in Italy and there have been many water-related protests. For example, an organization called Ultima Generazione poured diluted charcoal-stained black water into the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Two shirtless men smeared mud on their bodies outside the Senate last week to speak out for those affected by deadly floods in the Emilia Romagna region, among other things.

This isn’t the first time Venice’s Grand Canal has been stained. As early as June 19, 1968, Argentine environmental activist Nicolás García Uriburu dyed the Grand Canal green with fluorescein. After being successful, Uriburu dyed the East River in New York, the Seine River in Paris, France, the La Plata River in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Grand Canal in Venice in 1970.

(Reporter Ren Hao compiles the report/Responsible editor: Lin Qing)