Church of the Madonna dell’Orto
The Church of the Madonna dell’Orto was built around the middle of the 15th century by Fra’ Tiberio da Parma and took the name of Madonna dell’Orto due to the ancient picture of the Virgin that was found in a garden nearby and which was then taken to the church. Building on the church lasted for about one century and the result was extremely worthy of note: the façade is still the best example today of Venetian Gothic architecture from the 15th century. The row of niches that were originally galleries that ran down the wings of the building, now hold the statues of the twelve Apostles. Inside there is a nave with no transept and side aisles with chapels that are separated by two rows of Greek marble columns. The picture of the “Vergine con Bambino” that gives the church its name hangs alongside the Chapel of San Mauro and is a fine example of art work from the 14th century made from soft stone. Inside there are frescoes by Palma il Giovane, Ponzone and Tintoretto.

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A city on water

The first description of the inhabitants on the lagoon comes from the 6th century AD and was written by the Roman Cassiodoro:

It appears as though you slide across fields with your boats because from afar you cannot discern the canals from the sandbanks… and whilst in other cities you tether animals to the front of the house, you, with your houses of wicker and reed, tether your boats.

Even in those days, the city’s relationship with water was clear. It is a relationship that has distinguished Venice and her inhabitants ever since.
 
Since the beginning of its history, Venice has lived alongside water and transformed it into its major sources of income: salt extraction, fishing and river and maritime commercial traffic.

  
 
Over the centuries the city gradually extended its control of the seas and the ensuing commerce. In fact, the Adriatic was known as the Gulf of Venice.
 

The city’s development brought with it a transformation in the natural environment: in order to grow, the city needed to make living space out of the water, orchards, fens, mud and sandbanks. More and more land was reclaimed thanks to millions of poles driven into the mud, which then became land to build on. An entire forest of upturned trees lies at the base of the city.
  
The Venetians
The Venetians have always placed the utmost importance on water and its regulation: for centuries they have controlled the flow of rivers, even diverting their outlets to prevent the slow but progressive flooding of the lagoon. Over the centuries, the flow of the Brenta, Dese, Sile and Piave rivers has undergone substantial diversions to allow Venice and its lagoon to survive.

Great attention was given to providing drinking water and its use was regulated by specially formed magistrates. 
 
Birth of the Regatta
The regata or rowing race is the most specifically Venetian of local competitive events and has always exerted considerable appeal for both Venetians and visitors.

The earliest historical evidence relates the races to the celebrations surrounding the festival of the Marys and date from the second half of the 13th Century. However, it is probable that similar events were already popular: Venice was essentially a seafaring city and ready reserves of expert oarsmen were a prime necessity.

The etymology of the term regata is uncertain. Some trace it to the word riga (line), others to the verb aurigare (to compete in a race); and others again to ramigium (rowing); in any case, the Venetian term “regata” entered the main European languages to denote a competitive event raced in boats.

During the Renaissance regate were organized mainly by the Compagnie della Calza (associations of young noblemen) but from the mid-16th Century, the Venetian government appointed specific noblemen - called direttori di regata - to arrange and supervise the races.

 The competition
A typical regatta has always comprised various races using different kinds of boats and on the occasion of a regatta, the Lagoon in front of St. Mark’s and the Grand Canal is always teeming with decorated craft of all kinds, full of passionately keen spectators.

To clear the course of the race and to keep order, the regatta used to be preceded by a fleet of bissone, typical long boats containing noblemen standing in the bows and armed with bows. Their job was to pelt the more unruly of the spectators with terracotta shot. Now the bissone still head the procession before the races, but they no longer perform a disciplinary function.

The Regata Storica as we know it now, with its commemorative cortege acting as a prelude to the competitions, was conceived at the end of the 19th century for the 3rd Biennale d’Arte as a way of offering another tourist attraction.

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From 18 Juli 2009 to 19 Juli 2009

Redentore Fireworks Festival 2009 - Venice

The Redentore festival is close to the hearts of Venetians, and is celebrated on the third Sunday of July, with a grandiose fireworks show on Saturday night as the main attraction. The Venetians take in the spectacle of the fireworks right from their boats which are usually decorated with balloons, festoons and lights. Starting before sunset, the boats make their way to the Saint’s Mark basin and to the Giudecca Canal. The waters sparkle with the reflection of boats and lights. On the boats, among song, dance and typical food, people wait for the fireworks that begin at 11.30pm and go on for almost an hour. Along the banks thousand of people also wait for the fireworks at long tables set up for the occasion. The origins of the festival dates back to the horrible plague that devastated Venice between 1575 and 1577. In three years the plague killed 50,000 people, more than a third of the population. In 1566 the Senate for the Republic decided to erect a church in honor of the Redeemer, hoping that a divine act put an end to the plague. On July 13, 1577 the plague was declared finally over and from then on Venice has been marking the event on the third Sunday of July with a religious celebration and a popular feast. During the days of the Redentore festival a bridge of boats, 330 meters in length, straddles the Giudecca Canal. The bridge allows Venetians to easily access the Redentore basilica, where the faithful take part in religious celebrations. The most important one is the Votive Mass presided by the Patriarch. When: July 18-19, 2009

Venice’s newest art gallery, the Museo Vedova, by celebrity architect Renzo Piano has put a 21st century twist on the art of picture hanging.

Dedicated entirely to the work of the Venetian abstract art pioneer Emilio Vedova (1919-1996), paintings at the Museo Vedova don’t hang at all - they float.

Suspended in the air by a fleet of robotic shuttles moving along a track fixed to the ceiling, the paintings glide through the exhibition space at various heights, periodically coming to rest at strategic points under the lights before floating away to a different position.

The paintings are brought out together in series according to their chronological or thematic contexts and then whisked away to a storage space at the back of the museum to be replaced by others.

The public can view the paintings from the floor or from an elevated wooden mezzanine along the wall.

Set to open on June 3 for the 53rd Venice Biennial art exhibition, the Museo Vedova is located in the artist’s former studio, a renovated warehouse at the historic Venetian salt docks.

Explaining how he came by the idea for the museum, Renzo Piano explained, ”the warehouses are narrow and long and so it made sense to imagine that down at the far end, a bit hidden in the shadow, would be the storage facility, and out of this, as if by magic, the works would appear in a certain order. From this came the idea of mobility, whereby it’s not the spectator who goes to the artwork, but the artwork that comes to the spectator”.

Piano was introduced to Vedova in the 1980s by the composer Luigi Nono, with whom the two collaborated in designing the set for the premiere of Nono’s opera ”Prometheus” at the 41st Venice Biennial in 1984.

A frequent visitor to Vedova’s studio, Piano said, ”there was always the feeling that one day that imposing warehouse, a rather magical place or kind of cavern, could be the home for his works. He had always imagined this…and it was obvious that it wasn’t a question of hanging works the way one normally does”.

Emilio Vedova was a seminal figure of the post-war avant garde, emerging from the anti-fascist art group ”Corrente” in Milan to co-found the ”Fronte Nuovo delle arti” in 1947, a short-lived but prominent movement which looked to the neocubism of Pablo Picasso as the model for a modern new aesthetic.

His career exploded in the 1950s with a solo show in the prestigious Catherine Viviano Gallery in New York followed by his inclusion in the landmark exhibition ”Gruppo degli otto pittori italiani” at the 26th Venice Biennial in 1952, which established him among the foremost abstract artists in Italy.

Vedova would return to the Biennial eight years later to claim the Grand Prize for painting.

From the dark geometries of his experiments with cubism, Vedova’s work from 1950 onward grew increasingly abstract, placing him in league with the European ”Art Informel” movement that paralleled the work of abstract expressionists in America like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

”My [works] are not creations, but earthquakes,” Vedova once said.

”They are not paintings, but breaths”.

Vedova’s experimenting would eventually carry his work off the canvas altogether into the groundbreaking new terrain of artificial light play and installation art, for which he was featured in the Italian pavilion at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal.

Vedova died in 1996 at the age of 87.

In addition to the cutting edge new Museo Vedova, his works are also on display at the nearby Peggy Guggenheim collection as well scores of other galleries and museums around the world.

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                                                                                 Vogalonga is a boat race that was first organised in 1974 by a group of rowing enthusiasts and has since grown into a hugely popular occasion.
The Vogalonga competition takes part in Venice history since its birth it is one on the main events, especially spring. Vogalonga’s birth is due to a few Venetians and has always been supported only by the participants.

The race course that was laid out has remained virtually unchanged over the years. It covers about 30 kilometers by way of canals and through the most beloved and picturesque parts of the Lagoon of Venice. The boats gather in St. Mark’s Basin in front of the Ducal Palace. 500 boats with nearly 1500 participants meet on the fated day and after singing hymns to San Marco and to Venice, the “start” is given. At the finish line each participant receives a commemorative medal and a certificate of participation, a souvenir of the day. Prizes were also awarded (which in later years were drawn by lots).
More Informations
Website: www.vogalonga.com

Address and phone:
Comitato Organizzatore Vogalonga
S.Marco, 951 - 30124 Venezia
tel. 0415210544 - fax 0415200771
info@vogalonga.it
www.vogalonga.it

                                                                                                      This came about principally due to the diplomatic involvement of Doge Sebastiano Ziani.
Pope Alessandro III, as a mark of his gratitude to the city, gave the Doge a blessed ring, pronouncing “Ricevilo in pegno della Sovranità che Voi e i successori Vostri avrete perpetuamente sul Mare” (Receive this ring as a token of sovereignty over the sea that you and your successors will be everlasting). He then imposed the wedding between Venice and the Sea “Lo sposasse lo Mar sì come l´omo sposa la dona per essere so signor” (Marry the sea as a man marries a woman and thus be her Lord).
 
From this moment, the simple ceremony of the Sensa (N.o.E.) became a major - and very popular - representation of the myth of the Serenissima, “Queen of the Seas”.
Once each year, the Doge would “marry” the Sea, and throw the Blessed Ring into the lagoon as a sign of eternal fidelity.
To consolidate the Sensa as one the major anniversary celebrated in the Republic´s calendar, another Benefit came from the Pope.
 
The Pontiff, indeed, was grateful per la poderosa assistenza e per il cortese ospizio donatogli nella persecuzione da esso patita per Federico Barbarossa Imperatore (for the great assistance and hospitality he was offered during the persecution he suffered under Emperor Federico Barbarossa), and thus granted indulgences to all who visited the “Ducal Chapel” (the Basilica of San Marco), in the eight days (later 15 days) following the celebration.
 
 The religious incentive to get God´s forgiveness brought every year more crowds of pilgrims to the lagoon for the celebration of the Marriage to the Sea.

The venetian character, inclined to combine the Sacred and the profane, carryed to initiate, in 1180, the Fair of the Sensa, with displays of the best local handmade products, and merchandise from the Orient.
 

  Cycling champions on the runway in Lido, for the chronometer that on the 9th May starts the Centenary Giro d’Italia.Saturday 9th May is the day when the athletes release all their energies onto the pedals riding the circuit through the streets of Lido, 21 kilometers to Malamocco and back, with a little piece of history up for grabs. And pride. The start of the Centenary Giro d’Italia from the lagoon island forms an example under the amateur profile and, as the Mayor of Venice Massimo Cacciari has underlined represents for Venice ‘the opportunity to offer to Italy and the world an unusual aspect, vivacious and vital’. The Giro d’Italia also opens up the tourist season on the Venetian coast: the celebrations on Lido on the 10th May are followed by another appointment in the Veneto, with the start of the stage of Lido di Jesolo - Trieste.Looking through the records of the pink race, Venice has hosted, before 2009, only eight times an arrival and seven times a start of a stage. Races significantly under the symbolic profile, often beyond their amateur content. This is why the decision to start the Centenary Giro in Venice is particularly important and is eagerly awaited by thousands of fans along the route. The first time the ‘caravan’ came to Venice was in 1936: on the 2nd June, for the sixteenth stage, and a chronometer of 30,5 kilometers was programmed from Padua to Venice. It was won, with a medium speed of 40km an hour, by Giuseppe Olmo riding a Bianchi, with Bartali taking the pink shirt. On the 10th May 1939 the thirteenth stage ended in Venice, 231 km from Bologna. The Giro came to Venice again in 1949, 1951 1952, and then stopped for twenty years until 1972, with the first stage starting in Venice.
or an entire generation of cycling fans the first great sporting emotion in color was the arrival in St. Mark’s Square of the extraordinary Giro d’Italia of 1978: a bridge was built over the Grand Canal to bring the cyclists in front of the Basilica with an individual time of 14 km crowned by the victory of Francesco Moser, one of the most loved champions, with a 14 second advantage on Saroni(and a media of more than 44 km an hour). For their children, instead, it is impossible to cancel the indelible memory of the starting stage of the Giro in 1997, on the Venice Lido: crowded against the barriers to support the speeding group of cyclists along the city circuit, until the sprint finish dominated by Mario Cipollini, the ‘Lion King’ who in a matter of a few years became the athlete with the largest number of victories in the pink race.
To be first in Venice is therefore a prestigious prize even in the showcases full of trophies and plaques: the stages of the Giro d’Italia have an added value in the Lagoon, that push the great champions of cycling to give their all, to legitimize their myths with a victory in the city of the Doges. Even more if at stake there is, like this year, the first pink shirt.

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                                                                                                                                                                                            SPRITZ
The typical aperitif in Venice is the spritz, made of carbonated
water, white wine, lemon peel or olive and as you prefer, bitter
Campari, Cynar or Aperol. This beverage is very common also
in Hungary, (frocs), Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and also in
Romania, all the territories of ex-Austro-Hungarian kingdom
(1867-1918).  The story tells us that the Austrians used to
drink the venetian wine with water, because it was too strong
for them, so the Venetians, added a bit of liquor to give to this
drink a new taste.
The  Austrians  called  it“spritz”  that  means  injection.  The
aperitif-time is from 5 p.m., but someone drink spritz in the
morning before lunch. Spritz is a very strong beverage, so you
take care when you drink it.

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  Professional troupes were formed, with regard to the contemporary needs, under protection of northitalian courts in Modena, Mantov, Parma, where the ancestry of Geste, Gonzaga-Nevers, Farnese were traditionally suporting theater.And, above all, in the free atmospere of Venice. The new form of the theater gradually expelled other Italian comedy genres. Even editing a big quantity of bookish comedies did not changed this reality.The novelty of the comedy dell’arte consisted in a profesional organisation, in an accession of women – actresses and, above all, in the way of performing. Meeting of Lombardic troupes with fair performers in vivacious and noisy Neapol had a big influence on this.In the 17th century, the comedy dell’arte was a center not just a theater life, but also a social life.

Stable-base, fixed types (tipi fisis) are one of the specific components of the comedy dell’arte. In the expert terminology, they are called masks (maschere), even if a personage does not use a face mask. Grotesque types show, in caricatured exaggeration, a human attribute, psychical or physical or a combination of both. In the theater, there grew up a range of types observed in real life but also those created by an imagination and without a direct connection with life and era. While creating these types, a decisive factor is a class position of an author and a structure of an audience to which the play is dedicated.

Components of the commedia dell’arte

One of the perceptions from the process of acquainting with the comedy dell’arte is the idea that a performance of the comedy dell’arte was mostly a pantomimic or ballet piece. (This perception arose probably in the 19th century in England, France and Denmark when some comedians played a pantomimic performances with the figures of the comedy dell’arte and used their names without a direct connection.) In reality, performances were lively motional and rich in rapid speech, in plays on words and various phrases.The real comedy dell’arte has a few unseparable components that frame a conclusive complex.

Improvisation was a very important and attractive component. However, for it’s volatileness there are just a few co-temporary mentions of it.

Lazzi – the word itself provokes a joyful, comic reaction of an audience. The origin of the word lazzi (a singular in Italian is lazzo) is not clear. In the clear form it means a stage trick, a gag, a short joke, a mim’s scene, sometimes just and idea etc. There are two kinds of lazzi – a spoken one and a played one. Lazzi became an important element of comedy dell’arte, a flash point of a stage performance. Moreover, actors had a chance to make a show of their knowledge of literature. There are preserved compilations of various comic ideas, sentences, aphorisms, long equivoques, and also lyrical professions of love, disillusions or love jag. Actors were reading a lot and picking out quotations for their handbooks for the practices. The collection was accumulating and descended in actor’s families from generation to generation.

Speech was an integral ingredient of a play. From the early stage of the theater there are convincing confirmations of this fact.Venetian masks In the theater dell’arte, dialects are of a big importance. They guaranteed a popularity. Though other components of the comedy were liberating, dialects (in Italy) were remaining and became a continual connecting link with a plebeian environment. Many comic situations rose from using dialects that differ from each other - conversings understand each other badly or not at all.

This is an extraordinary regatta with costumes celebrated on Epiphany day along the Grand Canal. A fun regatta among old members of the oldest Venetian rowing society, the Bucintoro. Fifty men dressed as “Befane” challenge each other on the main part of the Grand Canal from S. Tomà up to Rialto Bridge. Arrival of the Befane is represented by a gigantic sock hung over the Rialto bridge for the occasion. The Befana is one of the most popular traditions of the Italian collective consciousness. Her legend dates back to pre-Christian times. Nowadays, in the popular Christian culture, the Befana brings presents as a reminder of those given to Baby Jesus by the Magi. This very charming old lady flies on a broom bringing a bag stuffed with gifts on the night between the fifth and sixth of January. Then, sliding down the houses chimneys, she stuffs the socks left hanging by the children. When: January 6, time: 11am Where: in the Grand Canal. Departure from Palazzo Balbi in San Tomà and arrival in Rialto.

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