Redentore 2015 -How to enjoy it like a local

What do you do after the plague decimates your city?  You throw a huge party!  And Venice, the hostess with the most-est,  has been hosting the best post-Plague party ever every year since 1592.

Festa del Redentore 2015 kicks off Saturday night.  This is a big, big deal here in Venice. The plague years hit Venice hard back in 1575 (and again in 1630), and Venetians will never forget it. In fact, every year since the Redentore church first opened it's doors  Venetians have held a special celebration to give thanks for the end of this devastating plague. 

Back then, the Doge and Senators would be the first to walk across a temporary bridge constructed of barges, crossing from the Zattere in Dorsoduro to the Giudecca side of the Giudecca canal to attend a special mass. 

                        (photo thanks to Hermann Ceriello, FB group Venezia ieri e oggi)

Today, the same procession takes place, only the bridge of barges has been replaced by a pontoon bridge constructed across the Giudecca canal.  

In order to join in the celebration and enjoy it like a local, here's some hopefully helpful information and a few tips.

1. The pontoon bridge opens at 7 pm on Saturday night (July 18) after a special brief ceremony is conducted by the Mayor of Venice, the Patriarch of Venice and several other invited dignitaries.  As soon as this ceremony concludes, masses of people will make the pilgrimage across this special bridge to begin attending mass at the Church of the Redentore, and also to take up the their positions along the canal to watch the fireworks later.

Tip:  If you want to see the ceremony and be one of the first across the bridge, plan to arrive at the Zattere side of the bridge early, around 6:30. Note- and this is important- the bridge is CLOSED to all traffic at around 11pm, and remains closed until the fireworks end. So- if you plan to over to the Giudecca side, get there earlier. That also means if you are on the Giudecca side, you are staying there until all of the fireworks are over and the bridge is opened up again. It helps to know what you are getting into before you start. 

2. Beginning around 7pm, local families will begin eating dinner along both sides of the Giudecca canal, and also on the St. Mark's side from in front of the Doge's Palace along the Riva degli Schiavoni  on down to the Giardini. They typically stake out their favorite spot the day before, and either leave chairs and tables there or mark off their space with masking tape.  Reserving space works on the honor system, but you better believe everyone respects each other!

Tip: Do like the locals do, and have your dinner canal side. Just be sure to NOT take up a spot already reserved.  Pack a picnic for yourself. Shop at one of the local grocery stores (Conad on the Zattere or Punto in Campo Santa Margherita are great choices).  Hit their deli section and buy some already made Venetian specialties.  Best choices to eat like a local-  Baccala and Sarde in Saor (fried sardines in marinated onions).  Some cold pasta salad would be a good choice and for desert, you must, absolutely MUST have watermelon.  It's tradition.  Tuck a bottle or two of wine or prosecco into your bag and you are all set.   

3. Fireworks- some of the BEST fireworks known to man - begin just before midnight. No matter where you are sitting (or standing), it's going to be a great show. After the fireworks, the mass exit begins. Be prepared for this and you will enjoy your Redentore experience much better. There will be upwards to 200,000 people at the fireworks, and the majority of them will be headed to the train station or Piazzale Roma at about the same time, clogging all the streets.  It could take you an hour and a half to get back to your hotel, so just plan on it.

Tip: Wait until some of the crowd leaves before you attempt getting back to your hotel. If you want to make your exit easy, DON'T choose to sit on the Giudecca side of the canal. There is a major bottleneck getting back over that pontoon bridge after the fireworks are over. 

4. Mass is held in the Redentore church every hour beginning right after the bridge opens, and ending just before the fireworks begin.  Sunday morning several masses are also held.

Tip:  Do like the Venetians and attend mass, or at least go in and light a candle. 

Sunday there are several boat races held in the Giudecca canal, culminating with the race for gondoliers at 5:30 pm.

Our new mayor has announced bars and shops may remain open until 2pm on Saturday night, and,  after several years of downplaying the Redentore celebration due to dwindling funds in the city's coffers, he plans to return this year's celebrations to what it had been in years past.  This most likely will mean even more people will be coming in to the city for the events, and more party boats in the lagoon. This could also mean bigger fireworks. One can only hope.

I'm ready for Redentore 2015. We, too, will  be dining canal side right here in Castello with friends who were born, grew up, and still live  in this neighborhood. My contribution to the picnic is a torte di ricotta (very much like a cheesecake), which currently is cooling on the top of the stove.

Postcard from Puglia

Ciao tutti!

We're in beautiful Alberobello, in the Puglia region of Italy, for the week.  Internet connection is sparse, so I'll take a minute while I can to just send a brief "Ciao" and a few photos.

Alberobello, located in  the heart of wine, olive oil and cheese production area of Puglia, is known for the unusual stone homes, called " trulli".

Wanting to "experience" this quaint location, we rented a trullo for the week.  Despite rain and cold for most of the week, we've been out exploring every day. Loving Alberobello !

A presto,
Karen

Festa della Marie- Carnevale 2015

The Festa della Marie, one of the main Carnevale events, is a re-enactment of an old traditional ceremony  took place yesterday, February 7 in Venice. 

As far back as the 9th century, Venetians blessed all the marriages that took place during the year at a ceremony on February 2, the day of the Purification of Mary. This ceremony took place at the cathedral of San Pietro in Castello. Also blessed were the marriages of 12 girls from poorer local families, who were each given a dowry from a wealthy family of the city and outfitted with jewels from the treasury of St. Mark's. The generic name of "Marie" was bestowed on each of these 12 girls. 

In 973, during this celebration, a band of pirates kidnapped the girls, absconding both the girls and all the jewels. Outraged, locals took off after the pirates, managed to find them, recovering the gems and returning the girls to safety. The Festa della Marie was created to thank the Virgin for her intercession in saving the girls and to commemorate the victory over the pirates.

Each year the 12 girls would be dressed and adorned in jewels for this parade from San Pietro in Castello. Eventually the real girls were replaced by wooden plaques, know as Marie de tola or Marie di legno. Another nickname for the wooden Maries was Marione.  These were cheaper- no dowry needed. Smaller versions of the Mariones were called Marionettes- yes, this is where the word Marionette stems from. 

In 1349, the Republic of Venice enacted a law prohibiting throwing fruit and other objects at the Mariones during this parade. Thirty years later, in 1379, the entire Festa was abolished.

Today in Venice, the Festa della Marie is a re-enactment of this traditional celebration commemorating the victory over the pirates in 973. A few weeks prior to Carnevale, a pageant is held during which  twelve local young women are selected by a panel of judges.  These girls, the "Maries" attend all of the important Carnevale  balls and events, representing the city. During the days of Carnevale, the local citizens may vote on their favorite girl, with the winner being  the " Marie" of the year. In recent years, whoever the winning Marie is becomes the Angel who will descend from the Campanile to the far end of Piazza San Marco during the Flight of the Angel the next year. 

So, now we have a little understanding about what the whole Festa della Marie is about. Let's get on with the parade!

 The 12 Maries  leaving the Telecom building near Rialto on their way to San Pietro in Castello for the beginning of the Festa della Marie parade.

 Each of the girls are wearing stunning gowns created by Pietro Longhi, one of Venice's talented costume designers.

While the parade makes its way from San Pietro towards San Marco, locals in Castello await the entourage at Via Garibaldi.   This happy band of singers belting out traditional Venetian tunes kept the crowd entertained during the wait.

Flag throwers lead the entourage. 

The 12 Maries ( and wooden Mariones ) are introduced to the public.

After a toast to the Maries, the parade assembles again, ready to carry the Maries to the Doge at St.Mark's square.

The Marie's entourage includes groups dressed in historic garb from neighboring cities, such as Trieste, Verona an  Conegliano.

Each girl is lifted onto a litter, carried by young gondoliers and other litter bearers. 

The wooden Marie de tola's bring up the rear of the real Marie's. 

You know what they say about Location, location, location?  I've watched the Festa della Marie numerous times from dead center in St. Mark's square. I've watched it from along the Riva degli Schiavoni, the main street leading from Via Garibaldi in Castello to St. Mark's Square.  I have to tell you, for me, there isn't a better spot to enjoy this Carnevale event than to be right on Via Garibaldi where the Marie's make a stop to be introduced to the local citizens.   It's here in Castello where today you find Venetians living. And here is where they celebrated their Carnevale yesterday, not the Carnevale of 100,000 tourists jammed into Piazza San Marco.  There weren't more than a few hundred spectators at this end of Venice yesterday, but the numbers didn't matter. It was the spirit that was important. Location, location, location.

A very tiny Carnevale fun fact

Carnevale 2015 officially began last weekend with the Festa Veneziana- a two day fun festival designed for locals, scheduled before the masses of tourists from all over the world descend upon Venice for the big events.

Not much Carnevale transpired  in the days between Festa Veneziana and today, kind of the lull before the storm - and that's a good thing because  all of Venice spent the week battling what seemed like endless acqua alta (high water), rain and high winds. Between now and February 17, Venice will be teeming with tourists, many donning elaborate costumes and masks participating in both masquerade balls and daily costume contests in St. Mark's Square.  

When you think of Carnevale, thoughts usually turn to masks, costumes, elegant balls and parades.  I thought I'd focus on something much smaller, almost inconsequential, but yet fundamental to Carnevale. Confetti. 

You cannot escape confetti during Carnevale.  It is one of the harbingers of the season. When I begin to see a bit of it in the streets, usually beginning around 3 weeks before, I know it won't be long before Carnevale is here.  And before long, all the streets are covered with it.

                                               

Confetti can be purchased in every Tabacci shop for around 1 Euro per bag. Any self-respecting Venetian child wouldn't be caught dead without their own supply, at the ready to be thrown at friends, parents, nonna and nonno, dogs, strangers.  Well, at  anyone or anything, it doesn't really matter. The stuff  just has to be thrown. 

Batman and big sister are armed with bags of the stuff, and Mom is even carrying a back-up supply  when theirs run out. 

Its one of those little things that just make you happy when you see it. You just can't help yourself. 

I see confetti every year, stuck in cracks all over Venice from January to March. I don't know why this year was any different, but for some reason  I started to wonder about confetti. Who thought up confetti in the first place?  Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, provided answers. I thought I'd share some fun facts with you.

 All over northern Italy as far back as the middle ages, crowds threw things at Carnevale parades.  Things like balls of mud, eggs, coins and fruit. Earliest documentation of this tradition is traced to Milan in the 14th century. In 1597 throwing objects at Carnevale events was banned by the Governor of Milan, Juan Fernandez de Velasco (just in case you get this question during a game of Trivial Pursuit).  The tradition was revived during the 1700's, however the eggs and mud balls were replaced with candy coated coriander seeds. Coriander was a common plant in this region at the time.  And- just so you know- Coriandoli (the Italian word for Coriander) is what confetti is called in Italy.

So how did we go from candies to paper pieces? In 1875 Enrico Mangili, a Milanese businessman, started selling paper discs to throw at Carnevale.  At this time, Milan was a large manufacturer of silk. Mangili collected the small punched paper circles that were the leftovers from paper sheets used by silkworm breeders as cage bedding, and sold them- at a profit, of course! Mangili's paper confetti made a pretty big hit, being less harmful, more fun, and a lot less expensive than the other objects being used at the time.  It didn't take long before paper confetti became the object of choice all over Northern Italy. And there you have it- the birth of paper confetti.

One more little tidbit- the word Confetti is used in Italian, but it refers to candy coated Jordan almonds, which also used to be thrown at Carnevale, but today are more commonly given out at weddings, baptisms and graduations.

So there you have it- a little fun fact about Carnevale, and two new words to add to your Italian vocabulary : Coriandoli and Confetti.

Admit it,  it does make you smile, doesn't it?

Venice Carnevale 2015 Corteo Acqua

Part Two of Venice's Carnevale kick off weekend is a grand boat parade starting at Dogana Point, just across from St. Mark's square, snaking all the way up through the Grand Canal, ending on Cannaregio Canal.  The first weekend of Carnevale is always a celebration for and by the locals, called the Festa Veneziana, before the hordes of tourists flock the city for the over-the-top masquerade balls and lavish events that will begin next week.

If you are a Venice lover who keeps up with Venice events, you probably have already seen numerous photos and read blogs about yesterday's event, the Corteo Acqua (boat parade). I've blogged about this event in previous years as well. This year, the entire event was very different for me. I wasn't on the sideline snapping photos as the parade passed along the Grand Canal. I wasn't on onlooker. No. I was IN a boat, in that parade. My perspective was dramatically different this time around, for good reason. 

Two years ago, as a spectator to this very same event, standing canal side in Cannaregio, I spotted the Pink Lionesses of Venice for the very first time. There they were, in a glorious dragon boat, dressed all in pink with feathered masks on their faces, rowing amidst all the other boats.  I wished I could be rowing in that dragon boat with them.  I didn't know anything about them, but they stood out, they were a bit different than all the other costumed rowers, and they were rowing a dragon boat instead of standing up rowing in typical Voga Veneto style. Long story short, I am now a member of the Pink Lionesses. Yesterday was my first time rowing in the Carnevale Corteo Acqua.  

Preparations for the parade began a couple of weeks ago, as we Lionesses planned how we'd decorate the boat to reflect this year's Carnevale theme "La Festa piu geloso del mondo" or The world's most delicious festival.  One of our members came up with an ingenious way to make large fruits, which she executed over the next few days. She made the fruit, and a couple of the rest of us were called on to some how attach the decorations to the boat, including yours truly. 

This past friday afternoon, I spent a few hours arranging, and sewing, yes, sewing these paper mache fruits to a plastic grid cut in the shape of the prow of the boat. After all the fruit were sewed on, we then attached the grid to the boat.  It all miraculously worked out; the boat was ready for the big event, and so were we.

She looks pretty good, doesn't she?

What most people don't realize when they line up to watch the Corteo is that we all start quite a bit earlier.  Our boat was very carefully  (hoping not to destroy the fruit) lifted by crane into the water. Then a few of us paddled over to the next canal where everyone else loaded up. Yesterday acqua alta (high water) struck just around the same time we needed to embark, which made loading up a bit more treacherous.  Notice the water level in the next photo- it's even with  the sidewalk.  

 Masks on, we were ready!

The Corteo started at Dogana Point, where all the participants were to gather. While we waited for everyone to assemble, we were treated to a concerto high above the Grand Canal. You can see the crane holding a grand piano and musician in the center of this photo below.  

  Part of the parade assembly process included checking-in with  parade officials, who also threw bottles of water and sandwiches (tramezzini) into each boat for the rowers. And then we waited. And waited some more. 

It's tradition that the giant pantegane (rat) leads the parade.  Our boat was right next to the rat, as we waited for the signal to begin. There were some announcements made over a loud speaker by the parade official, everyone raised oars in a traditional tribute, and off we went!

There were more than a hundred boats yesterday, filled with local rowers in costume.  As we rowed you could just feel the happiness and joy among all the rowers. Cheers were being called from boat to boat between rowers as they recognized friends.  The crowds lining the Grand Canal waved and yelled to all of us. What a great feeling it was to be in the water, part of it all.

Spirits were soaring, despite the turn in the weather.  It started out cold. The cold continued, only to worsen with the start of rain and hail. That didn't slow anyone down.

Passersby on vaporettos waved and snapped photos. The Accademia and Rialto bridges were lined with people all cheering us all on.  I'd been in their spot in previous years. I have to tell you, it's better in the boat.

When we made the turn onto Cannaregio canal, there was an entirely different feel in the air. The excitement level had cranked up several notches. There were lots more people. Lots more cheering. It was an emotional scene for all of us in the boats, all of us proud and happy to be there. 

Parade officials located at the Tre Arche bridge were announcing various boats as we made our way up the canal.  Boats docked everywhere a spot was available, and the canal-side party began in earnest, right after the pantegane (big rat) released a rat belly full of balloons into the sky.  

Restaurants, cafes, bars and pastry shops all over town donated food, beverages and sweets, distributed at booths lining both sides of Cannaregio Canal.   Venetian dishes including sarde and saor, bigoli in salsa, pasta e fagioli, and the traditional Carnevale desserts frittelle and galani were available for all. Fortunately for all of us the weather had calmed down considerably by this time. 

The one downfall to being in a boat is not being able to have my camera. I was able to snap a few photos with my camera here and there. Not quite the same. That's ok. I was happy to sacrifice some photos for the sheer joy of being able to row and be a part of this special celebration. 

To give you a better view of the entire event, here's the official Carnevale You Tube video of yesterday's Corteo Acqua.  See if you can spot me, I'm wearing pink!

Venice kicks off Carnevale 2015

The Grand Opening of Venice's 2015 Carnevale was just that- GRAND!   Festa Veneziana sull'acqua, a spectacular display of sound, sight, and imagination kicked off the weekend's events designed for the local citizens to enjoy. Last night two shows were performed on the Cannaregio canal, at 6 and 8pm. Citizens lined the canal in anticipation and they were not disappointed. 

Mike and I arrived a bit late at about 6:10pm.  I have photos, but I was so far back in the crowd, they aren't decent. Luckily, this video posted on You Tube lets you get the full effect. Just watch and enjoy!  

Doesn't this make you put Venice on your bucket list, if it wasn't already?

Ciao!

Buon Santo Stefano Day!

Today is Santo Stefano Day, a national holiday celebrated throughout Italy. It's the last day of a three day eat-a-thon in most houses, starting with the Christmas Eve cenone.
Santo Stefano Day, December 26 ,is a day commemorating St. Stephen who was the one of the  first deacon of the Christian church and also the first martyr.

In Venice, like most other Italian cities, almost everything is closed today. Shops, restaurants, businesses, you name it, all but the most touristy of establishments will be closed yet again today. While Christmas Day is a day spent with the family, Santo Stefano is a day to get out in the streets to see your friends and neighbors, to wish everyone Buone Feste and Auguri (Best Wishes).

We also took to the streets, walking through Castello, ending up at Via Garibaldi where we met up with our friend Anne for a mid-morning cup of tea.  The last several days have been gorgeous! Clear skies, enough sun, and above average temperatures for this time of year. Just the right ingredients for exceptional reflections in the canals of Venice.

By late afternoon, the sun disappeared and a thick fog began to roll in. We watched it roll over the lagoon getting closer and closer to our terrace. It quietly crept over the terrace until we could barely see out the windows. Thick as thieves out there tonight, and all we can hear are fog horns as boats make their way between Lido and Venice.

This is the view out our kitchen window tonight. Fog (la nebbia) .

The weather forecast for tomorrow is rain during the day, snow starting late evening to Sunday morning. We don't often get any snow in Venice, so whenever there is even a little bit, it makes for a great occassion to take photos, especially of the gondolas docked in front of the Doge's Palace.

Buone Feste!