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.  

Redentore 2012 !!!

It's been HOT,  and we've been busy, busy, busy, but NOT too busy to celebrate Redentore!!!  As you may know already, Festa della Redentore is probably the biggest festival in town. Venetians have been celebrating this holiday since 1577, first held to celebrate the end of the terrible plague years and the construction of the Church of the Redentore (the Redeemer). The holiday begins with a procession across the Giudecca canal on a temporary pontoon bridge led by the Patriarch of Venice.  A special mass is held in the church, followed by merriment and LOTS of food consumed canal-side, in anticipation of the evening's fireworks which commence at 11:30 pm. The weekend long celebration ends the following day with gondola races in Giudecca canal. 

We waited along with the rest of Venice, it seems, alongside the fondamenta, at 7pm on Saturday evening waiting the opening of the bridge.  Just before 7 we caught a glimpse of the new Patriarch Francesco Moraglia arrive by boat and make his way to the area on the bridge where Mayor Orsoni and a crowd of others awaited him. The crowd got impatient as 7pm came and went- everyone wanted to get across the bridge!  Finally, almost 10 minutes later, the red, green and white ribbon was cut and the masses made their way across to the foot of the Redentore church.

I caught a few minutes of the mayor's speech given at the doorway of the Redentore just prior to the mass. We didn't attend mass, instead we stopped at a vendor's stall along the street to buy some candied pecans, then made our way down the fondamenta towards the other church, the Zitelle, on our way to our destination for the evening- the home of our friend Caterina and her family, who own an old squero (gondola boat yard) on Giudecca.

We couldn't have asked for a better location to spend this special event!  In previous years we've sat along the street along the Giudecca to watch the fireworks, and always wished we could be included in some family's celebration too. We'd always been envious, watching from afar, as the families and groups of friends gathered along the waterfront to celebrate, eating vast quantities of food! This year we got to experience a Redentore like we had always hoped for- and alot more!

We all brought food to share, and there was no shortage of either food or drink. However, the highlights of the evening were the bovoletti ( small snails) made by Caterina's mom, and the tiramisu made by Caterina herself!

Here's Caterina's dad enjoying the last yummy morsels of tiramisu!

Dinner being consumed, we made our way back to the fondamenta just in time to catch the first of the fireworks going off. We were in a great location, just ahead of the vaporetto dock at Zittele.  Way better location than we'd had in previous years.  Normally, there are thousands and thousands of boats decorated with paper flowers and lanterns loaded with people moored in the lagoon in front of the temporary bridge. This year, the city decided to pass a new regulation banning the use of transport boats to hold people during this celebration, and announced fines would be levied for any violations.  So- far fewer boats this year. A little disappointing, unfortunately.

Not only was our location better, the fireworks display was the best at Redentore we've seen. Absolutely spectacular!  I've said this before, and I will say it again now- no one does fireworks like the Italians do!  This was pyrotechnics at it's finest.  Somewhere around 2 am we made our way back home amidst throngs of happy Venetians, and a very happy Karen.

The Redentore celebration continues the next day- and so did I.  I met up with Caterina and her mom to attend the Pesca di Beneficenza at the Redentore church. But first, we stopped into the church to catch a bit of mass. Pesca di Beneficenza is a lottery type game, proceeds going to the church. It was explained to me that everyone wins something, and some of the prizes are very good.  I handed over my 5 Euros, for which I received 5 little pieces of paper all rolled up.  With great anticipation and tickets in hand, we walked into the next building where all the prizes are lined up on shelves for display. Caterina and her mom explained the process- first, I unroll all my little pieces of paper. On each piece is either a number or a word. I hand over the papers to the kids running the booth and they hand over my gifts. My little pieces of paper all had words on them - not good, Caterina's mom tells me!  I came away with a plastic spaghetti strainer!!!!  Caterina got a bottle of white wine.  Proof positive that I have no luck!

The temporary pontoon bridge is up all day Sunday as well, for people to enjoy walking back and forth.  Sunday afternoon Mike and I were invited to have lunch with Caterina's family again.  Her mom made a delicious spaghetti with mussels, after which we had snails, a variety of cheeses, prosciutto, melon, bread, and fresh peaches. Her dad, Guido, broke out the grappa and Fernet Branca, an herbal liqueur that tastes like bad cough medicine and weeds, (myrhh, cardmom, camomile, aloe, rhubarb and saffron).  Good lord, how could anyone drink this????

Last event of the big weekend is a series of regattas on the Giudecca canal, beginning with a race for children in twin oared pupparini's, ending with two oared gondola races.

All in all , Redentore 2012 was the perfect weekend. Lots of good food, surrounded by good friends and family. It's already marked on my calendar for next year!