Venice must not become a ''historical theme park'', Britain's Prince Charles said here on Tuesday on the final day of a three-day official visit to Italy.
Addressing a Venice lagoon industrial regeneration seminar, the prince presented a five-point plan on architecture and the environment and explained his vision for large urban areas.
''We need to recognise that sustainability is equivalent to a process of long-term construction; 100 years, not 20,'' he said, at the same time urging architects to build for a ''harmonious'' whole.
But the prince urged planners to adapt old buildings ''where possible''.
''I always try to consider heritage as a live element, finding new uses for old buildings,'' he said.
Charles was also met by a delegation from the Italian Green Party with a banner reading 'Save Venice: stop global warming'.
City councillor Beppe Caccia gave Charles a letter criticising the Moses project, a controversial system of moveable flood barriers being installed in the Venice lagoon in a bid to prevent the city from sinking.
''Moses is entirely inadequate in the face of climate change, an issue to which the prince is strongly committed,'' said Caccia.
''The project was created in the mid 1980s, when engineers were not thinking about such changes,'' he added.
After 30 years of debate and testing, the Moses project was inaugurated by then Premier Silvio Berlusconi in May 2003 and completion is scheduled for 2014.
It is opposed by environmentalists, conservation groups and some citizens, who are angry over the costs involved and concerned at the environmental impact.
The project's supporters, however, insist that Moses is the only way to make Venice and its lagoon safe for good.
Charles' wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, meanwhile admired artwork at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, where she told journalists she would ''like to stay longer in Venice''.
On Tuesday evening the royal couple are expected to attend a performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the city's Fenice opera house.
Before leaving Rome for Venice on Tuesday morning, Charles addressed the Italian association of industrial employers, Confindustria, on environmental issues while Camilla visited the Keats-Shelley House Museum at the Spanish Steps, of which Charles is a royal patron.
The couple are due to travel to Germany on Wednesday morning.
