The Festa del Redentore, the most famous traditional festival in Venice, celebrated on the third Sunday of July every year to commemorate the end of the plague epidemic of 1575-1577. The Feast of the Redeemer is the event that commemorates the grace received by the city to end the plague and, at the behest of the doge at the time it was requested, the promise was made that every year, on the day in which the city was declared free from the scourge, a procession would be held to the new votive church. The main events of the Festa del Redentore 2020 still take place along the historical itineraries of this ancient feast.

Fireworks play an important role on the Feast of the Redeemer. However, due to the special circumstances in 2020, the municipal government of Venice finally decided to cancel the fireworks show. The party was full of by music and elaborately decorated lantern boats. In the case of maintaining sufficient social distance, the program arrangement for this year is richer and grander than in previous years.

In the past edition, on Saturday, the eve of the festival, fireworks are let off. Preparations begin early in the morning when people begin to decorate their boats, or the small wooden terraces on rooftops from where they can admire the fireworks. At sunset, Saint Mark’s basin begins to fill with up with boats of all kinds, festooned with balloons and garlands, and thousands of Venetians await the fireworks while dining on the boats.

Around 10 o’clock at night, from pontoons placed nearby the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the fireworks begin and Saint Mark’s basin becomes one of the most atmospheric stages in the world. The fireworks last for around 45 to 60 minutes, illuminating the night and arousing intense emotions in both Venetians and visitors. Once the fireworks are over, the young people of the city head off to the Lido, where they sit on the sand and wait for dawn.

Sunday is devoted to religious celebrations. A bridge of barges is built connecting Giudecca to the rest of Venice. The opening of the bridge connecting the main island of Venice to the smaller Giudecca island where the Redentore church lies, is a secular tradition. If you want to go over the bridge by foot, prepare for a crowded path and a slow walk, but you can also reach the island by boat.

Program schedule
The festival start on the evening of Friday 17 July with the opening from 8 pm of the votive bridge, which connects the Zattere with the Church of the Redentore to the Giudecca island (open until midnight on Sunday 19 July).

Confirmed the religious celebrations, the lighting of the traditional lights on Saturday and Sunday, along fondamenta delle Zattere and Giudecca. The program of the celebrations open on Saturday 18 July when the Grand Canal was transformed into a large stage crossed in several moments by four “cool nights” that broadcast different music along the banks, in a path that start from the railway station, touching Punta della Dogana., up to Giudecca. In the evening more music, with concerts in some stalls in various areas of the city, thanks to the collaboration of the exhibitors.

On the afternoon of Sunday 19 July, the Venetian rowing regattas are confirmed in the stretch in front of the Giudecca, at 4 pm that of the very young on 2-oared pupparini, at 4.45 pm the pupparini with 2 oars and at 5.30 pm the regatta on gondolas with 2 oars oars.

Related Post

From Friday evening until Sunday the replacement line of the San Nicolò – Punta Sabbioni Ferry was activated and in any case, in an extraordinary way, compared to the previous editions, both on Saturday and Sunday, with two trips on the outward journey and two in the afternoon on the way back, it was an extraordinary ferry from Tronchetto, along the Vittorio Emanuele, to the Alberoni, reserved for pedestrians and cyclists.

July 18 2020
7.00 pm the votive pontoon bridge connecting Zattere to the church Redentore on Giudecca island is opened and the crews participating in the Sunday regatta are presented.
11.30 pm Firework show above the San Marco basin.

July 19 2020
4 pm: start of the Regattas of the Redeemer: the route winds along the Giudecca Canal.
4 pm. regatta on pupparini with two oars – young people
4.45 pm. regatta on pupparini with two oars
5.30 pm regatta on gondolas with two oars

Due to the health emergency, the 2020 edition of the Festa del Redentore not see the traditional fireworks display. there instead be the lights along the banks of the Zattere and Giudecca and an itinerant musical entertainment on the Grand Canal., in Bacino San Marco and along the Zattere and Giudecca with the Redentore floats, between 7.00 pm and 11.00 pm on Saturday 18 July.

History
In the year 1575 a terrible plague struck Italy and the city of Venice was not immune: for two years the epidemic ravaged the city, claiming almost fifty thousand victims. Two hospitals were built for the occasion but they filled up in a very short time, forcing the authorities to put an increasing number of sick people in boats that were parked off Venice.

Seeing no improvements, the doge urged the citizens to pray and ordered the construction of a temple dedicated to the Redeemer as soon as the plague was over. The competition for the construction of the Redentore church was won by the famous architect Andrea Palladioand, when the epidemic subsided, in 1577, construction work began. From that moment every year, on the third Sunday of July, a bridge of boats is erected that connects Piazza San Marco to the church of the Redentore to allow the procession of faithful to pass, thanking the Redeemer for the end of that tragedy.

This celebration becomes a tradition that is still active after almost five centuries. As well as others in Venice: the apparition of the Madonna on the island of Pellestrina in 1516, which asked for prayers in exchange for the arrest of the Turkish attack, and another ex voto of liberation from another plague, that of 1600 of which Manzoni also narrated, which led to the construction of the Madonna della Salute (by Longhena) and which today is also remembered with a procession on a pontoon bridge and with the typical “castradina” dish. From 1950 to 2000 the bridge was built by the Italian Army’s 2nd Bridge Engineer Regiment.

On July 15, 1989, on the occasion of the Feast of the Redentore, the famous Pink Floyd concert was organized in Venice, considered one of the most extraordinary and controversial rock concerts in Italy. For the occasion, a large floating stage was set up in the San Marco basin and the show was seen by about 200,000 people crowded on the banks and on the boats and broadcast worldwide by Rai with an audience of about 100 million viewers.

Share
Tags: Italy