When Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis decided to promote Venice as the site for Expo 2000, much of Italy -- and Europe -- shuddered. Most of those opposed to the idea feared for the fragile health of a city already under attack by pollution and threatened by rising sea levels. Still, the 47-nation International Bureau of Exhibitions was expected last week to choose the jewel of the Adriatic over Toronto and Hannover as the Expo site.
Two days before the vote, however, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti announced that owing to the very environmental concerns voiced by the critics, he was withdrawing...
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