Jane da Mosto, a leader of the activist generation of Venetians who have refused to stand by and let their city die, has received official recognition from representatives of the city she lives in and loves. She has been awarded the Osella d’Oro prize (called after the gold coin that the doges used to give to the senators). It will be presented on 27 May by Mayor Luigi Brugnaro on the feast of the Sensa, when the ancient ceremony of the marriage between Venice and the Adriatic is re-enacted. The citation praises her for her constant and personal dedication to the cultural life of the city, the safeguarding of its delicate human and social fabric, the lagoon and its extraordinary townscape on water, and her involvement with the Venice in Peril Fund and We are Here Venice, the citizens’ action group that she helped found. This is a major change from the contempt in which citizens’ action groups have been held hitherto, for which Unesco criticised the authorities in its 2015 report on the state of the Venice.
