Venice, November 12, 2025 – With the decree signed today by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, Matteo Gasparato, former Special Commissioner, has been appointed President of the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority – Ports of Venice and Chioggia.
“I would like to thank the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, and the Italian government for the trust they have placed in me. Today, I fully accept a position that honors me and that will see, at the center of every action, the necessary reconstruction of the historical and functional relationship that links Venice, Chioggia, and the lagoon to its port and vice versa. This relationship must be revitalized in view of future economic, productive, and environmental challenges, which require our ports to play a leading role at the national and European level.”
“I am aware and confident that, in addition to the skills I have acquired in over 15 years of experience at the top of national logistics, I will be able to count on the excellent professional skills and abilities of the Authority and on the collaboration with the Maritime Authority and with the national, regional, and local bodies and institutions that are involved, each according to their area of expertise, in the management of a system as complex as that of the lagoon port system. We must give a decisive boost to the development of the Porto Marghera and Chioggia areas, completing the strategic projects currently underway and launching new ones to restore value to the areas and recreate a functional and productive geography integrated with maritime and port transport.
“The construction of a new terminal in the Montesyndial area is, in this sense, a paradigmatic project, as it will enable a leap in scale in the importance of the port of Venice. However, limiting ourselves to this would not do justice to the investments planned and those to come. In fact, in order to enhance the value of the large areas of the Veneto port system, equal attention must be given to land connections and nautical accessibility. The sustained implementation of intermodality will therefore be a strategic element in the development of rail connections for the Port of Venice—a core port hub in the trans-European transport network—in order to reach and compete in new markets, as it has already proven capable of doing.
On the sea side, the development of nautical accessibility will inevitably require solutions that guarantee safe navigation in all port channels and, in agreement with the Port Authority and the Lagoon Authority, define the full compatibility of the physical protection of the city and the environment of the lagoon, finally guaranteed by the MoSE system, with the development of the ports of Venice and Chioggia.
“These are ambitious but achievable goals that will be synthesized, together with the development of the cruise sector, already underway following Decree 103/2021 and which the entire commission will fully follow up on, in the drafting of the new Port System Planning Document, thus overcoming the current planning tools and adapting them to a medium- and long-term growth horizon.”
