The Mose project is saving Venice but filling it with rats. And the pest controllers are celebrating

Moses drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea; Mose – the one without an accent – no longer drowns mice in the lagoon, and as a result, Venice seems to have become Topolinia. Since the much-maligned movable flood barriers are working, high water – which used to be the norm – has become the exception since 2020. However, the recurring flooding meant that rodent pups would periodically drown – the famous ‘mouse’s death’. That is no longer the case, and given that a female mouse can produce up to 1,500 pups in a year, rats in Venice have become a problem – or are more of a problem than before.

The news was reported by La Nuova Venezia (always flick through the local papers, as the once-great but now-forgotten editors used to advise), which also cited the scholarly study by an emeritus professor of Hydraulics at the University of Padua. It also provided interesting details about the types of city rats: we thus learn that Venice is mainly infested by Rattus rattus, alias the black rat, and Rattus norvegicus, commonly known as the brown rat, with the former inhabiting the upper floors and the latter the ground floor. Far less common, due to a lack of food sources, is the field mouse (and after all, the Venetians have always said: ‘Beyond the bridge, it’s all countryside. On this side, nothing’). As a regular visitor to the calli and campielli, I can confirm that there are indeed more brown rats visible now than before. Through a curious phenomenon of mimicry, they move with the same slow yet assured nonchalance as the few, marvellous surviving local ‘dogaresse’ – those who speak only in dialect, still have a palace whose walls are adorned with portraits of ancestors who fell at Lepanto and Candia, and have taken to the streets to protest against ‘Venezi’ in Venice. In short, we will have to update Cocteau’s old quip – assuming it was his, that is: in Venice, lions fly and pigeons walk, granted, but above all, the rats are celebrating.

The news clearly gives rise to some interesting philosophical speculation. The point is that, providing yet another reason for those who doubted the magnificent and progressive destiny of mankind (and mice), the solution to every problem inevitably creates another. Gutenberg invented the printing press, and with it, the misprint. The Camerata de’ Bardi created opera, and tenors were born. Bossi founded the Lega, and we’re stuck with Salvini. The Mose project saves Venice from the floodwaters but fills it with rats. There is, of course, also the other side of the coin: it’s a bonanza for pest controllers, and the ever-resourceful Venetian newspaper also reports on the rates and frequency of their call-outs. In any case, it must be acknowledged that high water was a greater nuisance than dealing with rats: tourists are more of a nuisance, especially the hit-and-run variety (just like rats, in fact). Still, one can never rest easy. Venice, freed from high water, is simply too beautiful for there to be no downside. As our beloved Wisława Szymborska also says: ‘We are denied the folly of perfection’.