Veneziaviva

About us

Historical background :

"Liking, no, more ! Loving Venice I had to show my love.
Considering the fact that there was nothing much being done for the Serenissima in Belgium yet, I decided together with a few friends to create veneziaviva.be.
veneziaviva.be, the first and until now one and only Belgian association “for Venice”.
veneziaviva.be, or as we call her among us, simply “vv.be”.
“V” stands for our own volition to help “V”, Venice.
“V” stands for the vigour and strength of our commitment to “V”, our Venice.
Venezianamente. Yes, venitianly J"

Michel Praet
Founding member

From December the 22nd, 2006, the Administrative Board has been broadened and reshuffled as follows :

Carine Claeys, chairwoman
Tania Wolski, vice chairwoman
Michel Praet, founder
François Roelants du Vivier, honorary president
Claudia Corvi Mora, Marieke Debeuckelaere, Giulio Barbolani di Montauto, Paul Dujardin, members

Carine Claeys, who was formerly veneziaviva.be's secretary general, is Belgian and works for the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

The Patronage Committee consists of :

Massimo Cacciari, mayor of Venice
Luc Coene, minister of State
Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, mediavalist, professor at the Sorbonne
Viscount Etienne Davignon, minister of State
Umberto Eco, semiotician
Krzysztof Pomian, historian
Sandro Saggia, ambassador of Italy in Belgium
Marquis Olivier de Trazegnies, Europa Nostra
Umberto Vattani, ambassador
Marino Zorzi, director of the Marciana Library in Venice

Object :

veneziaviva.be, the aim of which is cultural, philanthropic and scientific, has as its objective to work, through concerted actions of its members, to preserve, restore and enhance the value of Venice’s heritage, and to promote an environmentally friendly development of the city of Venice.

veneziaviva.be is a non-profit making association under Belgian law.

Our statutes can be consulted on this site.