Ferragosto! Closed for holiday!

For the last few weeks, the closed for holiday signs have sprouted up all over the city.  Everyone is headed to the mountains or the beach for the traditional Italian holiday -Ferragosto. While technically the holiday is only one day, August 15, Italians stretch it for almost the entire month.

This summer is having a run of "stuff" happening, much worse than previous years, in my mind. I cannot recall a year being quite as bad as this one. Not weather-wise, it's routinely hot and humid here. But I think the weather might have contributed to Venice going a bit mad. I think all the summer madness began when the ridiculous ticket booth, il Gabbinotto, was erected at the base of the Campanile in St. Mark's square. That incited quite a bit of indignation amongst the locals, for sure.  

 

Next was the cruise ship that came too close to the embankment near Via Garibaldi. As if Venice needed any more cruise ship bad news!!!  

There  was an accumulation of record breaking algae in the canals and unprecedented numbers of dead fish. Weird. 

There have been crazy fights between vu compra (the illegal handbag salesmen), the local vendors and gondoliers.  Also weird.

The huge purple inflatable statue has taken up residence on San Giorgio Maggiore until November. Yes, very weird.

Gondoliers have experienced a new run of bad press through the summer months including the poor treatment of a ganser (the guy who helps people get off a gondola), roughing up some passengers at Redentore night, and the reported bad language addressed at a regular passenger at one of the traghetto stations.  The result:  random drug and alcohol testing for gondoliers. 

In the last week we've seen numerous articles in the local newspapers relating to poor tourist behavior- sleeping in the streets, riding bicycles, going shirtless, and swimming in the canals. (By the way, Venice has several rules about proper decorum in the city- one of them is going shirtless.  Riding bicycles is an offense which carries a fine.)   

(photo from Il Gazzettino)

(photo courtesy Sebastiano Scomparin)  

Not to be left out of all the summer chatter is ACTV- the company that operates the vaporettos. The boats have been running behind schedule on numerous days; they have been unbelievably overcrowded; there have been altercations between tourists and the  workers on the boats, instigated undoubtedly by the crankiness due to those late arrivals and all those crowds;  and there have been staff on board boats checking tickets and writing out fines left and right.  The latest from ACTV is the new poster announcing fines for people on the docks without a valid ticket. 

And last but not least, just two days ago, an oil spill on the Giudecca canal near San Basilio that necessitated two days of clean up, probably caused by one or more of the cruise ships in port that day. 

I seriously believe Venice is overdue for a vacation.  I expect to see one of these Ferragosto closed for holiday signs hung on Venice's front door. 

Buon Ferragosto, Tutti!!!  

Redentore - il giorno dopo ( the day after)

I wanted to try to share a little bit of Redentore with you. My firework photos aren't spectacular, I'm envious of some of the incredible photos I've seen on the internet this morning. I'm going to have to really practice with my night photography next year. For what it's worth... here are a few. Redentore fireworks are some of the best I have seen in my life. I just don't think anyone does fireworks better than the Italians do! 

This year we had a wonderful dinner on our terrace, then walked out to the waterfront along Sant'Elena to join the thousands of others who had already staked a spot there. Families had set up tables and chairs all along the water earlier in the day and had even hung lanterns and lights. By night, their dinners were over, everyone was ready for the fireworks. Others were on blankets on the grass in the park. There were young and old alike, dancing, singing, just enjoying the evening. 

 After the fireworks, most of the people who had gathered on Sant'Elena gathered up their belongings and headed home or to the Lido by vaporetto.
Sunday morning I headed off to Giudecca  island to Pesca di Beneficenza, a lottery type game to raise money for the church, held annually on the morning after the Redentore celebration. This has become a favorite of mine, and it's well known amongst my friends that I have no luck winning anything- except fly swatters!  I have quite a fly swatter collection now.  So--- Sunday morning it was more fly swatter time for Karen! I hopped on the 4.1 vaporetto and made my way to Giudecca.

Here's a little taste of Redentore, through my eyes......

 Here's how this works- you pay 1 Euro per ticket, hand your money over to the volunteer who is manning these bins of little rolled up papers. They pick out tickets from the bin and hand them over to you.

 I contributed 10 Euros this year, these are my hot 10 little winning tickets!

 You unravel the papers, hoping one of them is a good number!  They either have a word or a number on them. The lower the number, the better the prize.

This is a display of some of the better prizes. The motorbike was number #0001.

 And this is my stash of prizes..... a curtain and rod, a swiffer duster, 2 plastic flowers, 2 small glass dolphins, a little glass ring, a car air freshner, and a tiny little plastic keyring with a small container of playdoh attached!  No, I didn't even win a bottle of wine. And no, no fly swatter!!!!

 Here's a view of the Redentore church from the temporary bridge. Yellow paper lanterns are a tradition, lining both sides of the canal. I love the atmosphere on this weekend!

 The bridge is constructed from sections that are held in place by large pilings.

 Contributing to the party atmosphere are the nut, candy and balloon vendors stationed near the church. I always buy a bag of roasted almonds for Mike. It's become a tradition for us whenever there is some festa going on. Of course, a bag of nuts came home with me yesterday.

These are fresh , warm and delicious smelling.

And finally.....one last remnant of a special night in Venice... empty tables on Sunday morning along Giudecca canal waiting for their owner to come pack them up and carry them home.  

Getting ready for Redentore

I snapped a quick photo yesterday as the vaporetto I was riding passed by the votive bridge being constructed across Giudecca Canal for the Festa del Redentore.  Construction of the temporary bridge takes place during the week prior to the festival (always held the third weekend in July), with the last section pushed into place on Saturday morning. Once the middle section is installed, normal vaporetto routes on the Giudecca canal are rerouted up the Grand Canal for most of Saturday.

The whole city is busy today in preparation for the Festival, most obvious along the waterfront on both sides of the Giudecca, and also in Castello and Sant'Elena.  This morning as I walked through Castello people  were bringing tables and chairs out into the street and stringing lights from one side of the street to the other. On Sant'Elena, people had chairs and tables along the waterfront, and restaurants had moved all their tables outside and strung lights and paper lanterns. I passed people washing and cleaning buckets of mussels and clams for part of the big dinner tonight.   There is quite a party atmosphere in the air !

Festa del Redentore (Feast of the Redeemer) is one of the oldest and most loved festivals celebrated in Venice. It dates back to 1577 when the celebration began to honor the deliverance of Venice from the ravages of the plague. Back in those days, pilgrims crossed a bridge made of boats tied together to get across the Giudecca canal to attend a special mass. Today, the city constructs a 330 meter temporary pontoon bridge, which opens at 7pm Saturday evening when the Patriarch of Venice, the mayor and other dignitaries officially open the bridge with a blessing.  Immediately following the parade of people across the bridge is a special mass in the Church of the Redentore.

Thousands of Venetians and tourists alike will gather both in the lagoon in decorated boats, and along both  banks of the  Giudecca canal to eat and celebrate, waiting for fireworks to begin at 11:30 pm. Food plays a huge part of the Redentore celebration, with everyone eating traditional dishes including Sarde in saor (fried sardines in marinated onions), bovoletti (snails), tiramisu and watermelon.

In previous years I've crossed the bridge at 7pm and watched the fireworks from the steps of the Redentore church. Last year I had dinner with Caterina, my Venetian friend, her family and a few other friends at her family's squero (boat yard) on Giudecca. I've wanted to watch fireworks from a boat in the lagoon, but haven't figured out how I'd last several hours on a boat without bathroom facilities- so that one is still hovering on my "someday" list. And tonight, we are planning something a little bit different. We're going to be on the other side of the lagoon for a change, watching the fireworks from along the waterfront here on Sant'Elena.  

Living the dream - Festa del Redentore

Every year on the third weekend in July, Venetians commemorate surviving the Plague of the mid-1500's by staging a very big celebration. The celebration has been the same ever since the first one held way back when the Redentore Church was completed. A pontoon bridge across the Giudecca canal is put in place, linking the Zattere on the edge of Dorsoduro to Guidecca Island, ending right at the steps of the Redentore church. This church was built as a thank you for ending the plague.

There is plenty of excitement building up to the beginning of this Festa. We walked down to the Zattere on Friday nite, and could see that bright yellow lanterns had been strung along the street on both sides of the canals, and the cafes and restaurants were colorfully decorated. There was even a live musical group at one of the café’s on the waterfront. Then we walked down to where the pontoon bridge was, and could see that the center portion still had to be moved into place on Saturday.

The bridge opens up at 7pm on Saturday, so people can make their pilgrimage across to the Redentore. Venetians in boats get into position in the lagoon between St. Marks and this makeshift bridge, waiting to partake in the festivities. We had done our research and knew that the fireworks would begin at 11:30 pm, and we wanted to get there early enough, but not too early. At about 7pm we could hear crowds of people moving past our house, which is not far from Piazzale Roma. Clearly people were arriving from outside the city, making their way to Guidecca for the night’s partying. We got ourselves ready and headed out the door around 8pm to join the crowd as well. Everyone around us was carrying bags of food and we noticed several also had green plants wrapped in clear cellophane and red ribbons. We were eager to get there to experience this special festival for ourselves this year.

I can’t remember seeing this many people in one place. The throng of people moving across the pontoon bridge was incredible- I grabbed out to Mike so not to loose sight of him. It was orderly—but crowed! Luckily we were able to stop a few places along the bridge to take pictures. There were hundreds of boats already rafted up in the lagoon – complete with loads of people already partying! It reminded me of 4th of July celebrations in the U.S.

We made our way across the bridge, and went into the church. Mass is said here over the weekend and people come to pray for the health of their families and friends. I joined in, and also lit a candle before leaving. Outside, there were booths set up selling food, drinks and candy and balloons. Mike and I found a place to sit right on the steps of the Redentore church, which at the time seemed like an excellent vantage point for fireworks viewing.

The crowds continued to arrive across the bridge, moving to the left and the right as they set foot on Guidecca Island. The Carabineri were milling about, so were another branch of police in white shirts, I think they might have been Navy personnel, and we also saw some volunteer firemen- and women. About 11:15 these various police units shut down traffic on the bridge. And at 11:30, right about on schedule, the fireworks began! Unfortunately, our position on the steps didn’t turn out to be the optimum for seeing fireworks, so we had to get up and move down into the crowds and watch standing up. The Italians have an incredible talent for fireworks- this display was one of the best I have ever seen. Sadly my photos don't do it justice.

Fireworks over, the police re-opened the bridge and we became part of the masses walking back over to Dorsoduro to get home. We watched boats start to disperse, some heading home, the rest heading over to the Lido where they will all gather for a breakfast at 6am, part of the traditional celebration. Maybe next year we’ll find a way to be out there on a boat.

On Sunday, there are boat regattas for several classes of rowing boats, including one for gondolas. At 7pm Sunday night, the Patriarch of Venice says a special mass at The Redentore church, and that concludes the weekend festivities.