Living on an island often implies isolation. Venice has always tried to oppose to the adverse effects that this situation can bring about. In fact, according to many, being so distant from the main communication networks is inconvenient and detrimental for the city economy. Pierluigi Cervellati deals with this issue in “Per un piano della città antica” in a book published by Marsilio in 2007 (‘Quale Venezia: trasformazioni urbane 1995-2005’). Cervellati states that Venice has been gradually moving towards mainland: “For centuries, the Arsenale has been the economic heart of the city. Later, the core moved to San Marco square, then to the market of Rialto. The last step towards the mainland is the Tronchetto area. With its petrochemical plant, Mestre includes and becomes Venice”. As Venice’s old town centre is less and less populated by Venetians, more and more projects and studies are introduced in the attempt to regulate the growing flow of people that daily visit the city to work, to study or for tourism. Over the past decades, the centre of Venice increasingly stopped being a place in which to ‘stay’, turning into a ‘crossing-area’. Therefore, it’s vital to update and improve the access areas of the city crossed daily by the flow of visitors. In dealing with this issue, good intentions often outnumbered the accomplishments but, of course, some improvements have doubtlessly been made i.e. Piazzale Roma, where an increased sensitivity and a greater aesthetic awareness can be perceived.

Among the most recent fulfilments that re-outlined Venice access areas, we find the passengers terminal buildings in Marco Polo airport and the city harbour. New works are under construction: the People Mover will connect the Tronchetto area, Piazzale Roma and the Calatrava bridge, improving the passage between the square and the railway station. Among those projects which have never been carried out or are not completed yet, we find the water/land exchange junctions which are expected to be created in some areas of the lagoon, for instance in the Fusina area. Another project to be implemented is the reclamation of the area surrounding the nautical station, including the creation of a multi-functional exchange junction. The nautical station area amounts to nearly 40,000 square metres, extending from the Tronchetto area to Piazzale Roma. This whole area is expected to become one of People Mover halfway stops with a wide range of features: a multi-level garage, commercial areas, information and reception points and open public spaces.

The creation of this area required the launch of a planning competition in 2007, won by architect Mauro Galantino. The participants were asked to find solutions able to satisfy various needs: transport re-arrangement and development concerning the access to the old town centre (especially a growing demand for car parks) and the creation of public services and spaces. According to the jury, the winning project was the one that could better conjugate the quality of the architectural project, the employment of practical and eco-friendly procedures and materials, combined with a landscape planning activity that would take into account open spaces, their use and the perception they convey to their visitors. The Galantino project has been presented in the exhibition mounted in Chiesa di Santa Maria in February 2008 where it was displayed with the other finalist projects. Waiting for the development of the water links in the lagoon, in the old town centre and on the mainland, safeguarding the environment and the special beauty of a sea-city like Venice, new projects are carried out. According to the winners of the planning competition for the renewal of the nautical station area, these new projects will form “part of the infrastructures that are turning Venice into an appendix of the mainland”.