The flooded Piazza San Marco square, with the San Marco Basilica are pictured during an exceptional "Alta Acqua" high tide water level on November 12, 2019 in Venice. - Powerful rainstorms hit Italy on November 12, with the worst affected areas in the south and Venice, where there was widespread flooding. Within a cyclone that threatens the country, exceptional high water were rising in Venice, with the sirocco winds blowing northwards from the Adriatic sea against the lagoons outlets and preventing the water from flowing back into the sea. At 22:40pm the tide reached 183 cm, the second measure in history after the 198 cm of the 1966 flood. (Photo by Marco Bertorello / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)