The flood barriers that might save Venice

Venice's MOSE flood barriers, in use since October 2020, have enabled La Serenissima to stay dry for the first time in history. But with climate change, how long can they make a difference?

(CNN) — The first thing it resembles -- this private, manmade island, straddling the Adriatic Sea and the Venetian lagoon -- is a Bond villain's lair. The second -- as you dock at the private pontoon, walk past the Brutalist concrete façade, and into a "control room" where staff watch monitors tracking the waters around the island 24/7 -- is something out of "Squid Game."

In fact, as sinister as it sounds, this 144,000 square meter (35.6 acre) island which keeps a silent tab on Venice around the clock isn't a malign force -- it's there to protect one of the world's most fragile cities.

The nameless island -- situated between the peninsula of Cavallino-Treporti (which curls out from the Italian mainland, putting a protective arm around the Venetian lagoon) and the Lido island, a giant sandbar which blocks off most of the historical center of Venice from the Adriatic Sea -- is the beating heart of the MOSE: the system of flood barriers that has, after 1,200 years, allowed the floating city to stand up to rising sea levels.