A secret island juts out of the sea near a popular tourist spot – and it has its own unique ecosystem

New Earth ahoy!

Bacan is located on the coast of Venice offering a plot of land 820 meters wide and 33 feet long.

The small strip of sand once protruded from the city’s lagoon only in the summer when the waters receded, but has become habitable year-round since the city erected flood barriers.

The Mose flood barrier that has protected Venice from sea waves since it opened in 2020 has also helped to keep Baca at sea.

“The barrier … speeds up the flow of water into the lagoon when it’s open, which means more sand enters, helping to hold back the Bacan,” Giovanni Cecconi, an engineer who worked on the barrier, explained to The Times.

“And by raising the barrier in winter to stop the high waters, the island is protected from the waves that once eroded it.”

Bacan dived for the last time in the winter of 2020.

On the island, Venetians can now escape the tourists who overcrowd their city to sit in the sun and hunt for shellfish among the island’s thickets of new vegetation.

“It is a new ecosystem and it shows that the lagoon can evolve in a positive way in parallel with human intervention,” said Cecconi.

However, some experts believe the barriers are disrupting the natural balance of the lagoon as the structures block storm surges from mudflow – an essential part of marshes that spread into the lagoon.

Preserving the salt marshes is an integral part of combating climate change – they absorb 30 times more carbon than a forest – which has increasingly disrupted and destroyed Venice.

Bacan has emerged as Venice continues to drown in water and tourists.

To stay afloat, the Italian center has banned large tour groups and started charging entry fees along with installing flood barriers.

Earlier this year, Italian officials announced measures to limit large tourist groups to the sinking historic city as part of a campaign to curb congestion in the historic hotspot’s often narrow streets and waterways.

Starting this summer, tour groups were said to be limited to 25 people – about half the capacity of a double-decker bus.

Venice also began charging day-trippers a 5-euro ($5.36) entrance fee this spring, reportedly to protect the UNESCO World Heritage Site from the negative effects of over-tourism — but tired locals they say mass is just a drop in the bucket. and may end up sinking the struggling city.

The efforts are part of an ongoing campaign to reduce visits to the Canal City, which is said to absorb 30 million people a year, many of whom visit during the day.

Unfortunately, Venice is struggling for more than just tourism.

The lagoon city is slowly sinking into the ocean due to rising sea levels driven by climate change and overdevelopment.

That’s why a getaway like Bacan is prized by locals—as long as it’s kept a secret from tourists and developers.

“What we need to avoid are ice cream kiosks and luxury hotels,” Cecconi said.