VENICE CATHEDRAL SEEKS $4M FOR FLOOD DAMAGE

ROME Venice’s most famous cathedral is calling for urgent funding to save its precious marble and mosaic floor after surging floodwaters did decades of damage in a day.

St. Mark’s Basilica, which attracts more than five million visitors a year, was filled with nearly a metre of water at the end of October in some of the worst flooding seen since 1872.

Carlo Alberto Tesserin, the basilica’s administrator, said the church had “aged 20 years in a day” and estimates initial repairs will cost about $4 million. His office said the 1,000-year-old basilica had already invested some of its own funds to get the restoration of the decorative floor started but appealed for assistance from the national government for more.