Venice very commonly floods. This just happens to be fairly severe. They are used to it though.
Seems to me they have limited choices.
Leave things as they are.
Create extensive dikes like Holland.
Move the whole city to higher ground.
Seems to me like the dikes make the most economic sense but moving could have merit, too.
Otherwise—’enjoy’ the flooding & quit whining. It’s exceedingly predictable.
Built on lagoon sand? Sheesh. That’s fairly clueless. Even the Bible is clear about building one’s house on sand. Why such willful idiocy?
Yes, I think you're right. Been to Venice several times... I love it. It's sad to see this damage though.