THE REDENTORE FESTIVAL IN 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 (more…)

SANT’ERASMO ISLAND

The Isola di Sant’Erasmo (St. Erasmus) is the largest island in the Venetian lagoon, but it’s only sparsely populated. For years this has been Venice’s countryside, the agricultural zone which produces the fruit and vegetables consumed by the hungry city. Among its produce, particularly renowned are the artichokes (carciofi). The landscape is flat, and dotted with farms and rural small-holdings. It couldn’t be more different from Venice, whose bell-towers and churches can be seen on the skyline.

Travel

The Sant’Erasmo ferry is the number 13 which departs from Venice’s Fondamente Nove stop on a roughly hourly basis. The boat calls at three stops along the shore of Sant’Erasmo: Capannone, then Chiesa, and finally Punta Vela. The journey takes 30-50 minutes, depending on which stop you get off at. Note that not all the services run the full route; check a timetable. It’s also (more…)

CHURCH OF THE MADONNA DELL’ORTO IN CANNAREGIO AREA

Church of the Madonna dell’Orto

The Church of the Madonna dell’Orto in Venice 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 (more…)

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

In the palace known as Fontego dei Turchi, once the Turkish legation – now the premises of the Natural History Museum, a room is completely given over to Venetian entrepreneur and palaeontologist Giancarlo Ligabue and his scientific expedition to the Sahara desert in Niger which, in 1973 discovered the famous fossil remains of
dinosaurs. The almost intact skeleton of an Ouranosaurus came to light in the sands. Seven metres long and three metres in height, it is one of the most rare finds of this type known anywhere. Today the remains of this iguanodon from 110 million years ago, and the cranium and part of the skeleton of a giant crocodile Sarcosuchus imperator – a flesh-eating creature of gigantic proportions (12 metres in length, weighing (more…)

GIUDECCA ISLAND

The Giudecca Island is located about 400 meters south of Venice and is separate from the city by the homonymous canal. The Giudecca is comprised by 8 islands and has about 4500 inhabitants. In ancient times its name was “Spina Longa”, due to the long and narrow profile similar to that of a bone fish. The stretch of the lagoon between Venice and the Giudecca was a canal called “Vigano”. Later the name became Giudecca because in this part of the city were confined Jews. From 1298 they were transferred to the mainland, but in 1516 they were forced to reside in the Ghetto of Venice. Thus it became an exclusive place for the nobility of that age, before the area of Riviera del Brenta, with its villas, became fashionable. The Giudecca lived a period of brilliance with the construction of palaces, villas with gardens, churches and monasteries (in ancient times there were eight). In the course of the twentieth century this became a popular suburb of the city with some medium-sized industries such as Junghans, the Mulino Stucky (built in 1896 by the German architect Ernst Wullekopf), and many small shipyards located in the south.
The area north of the Giudecca is connected by a long waterfront, where we admire the “Zattere”, the St. Mark’s Basin and S. Giorgio Maggiore. From that waterfront through the long and narrow streets you get to the south part of the islans: from there you see a nice view of the lagoon with a few islands not far away. The major sight of the Giudecca can be considered without doubt the Church of the Redentore, (Christ the Redeemer), in neoclassical style (begun in 1582 by Palladio and completed in 1592 by Antonio da Ponte). This votive temple was erected for the will of the Senate following the end of the terrible plague of 1576 that decimated the population of the city. Every third Sunday of July, the Doge had to visit the church for the occasion. Inside there are some remarkable paintings such as “The Baptism of Christ” by Paolo Veronese and “The Descent from the Cross” by Jacopo Palma the Young. Actually, the Feast of Redentore owes its notoriety to the fireworks being exploded in the S. Mark’s Basin at 23.30 (on Saturday) and lasting nearly 40 minutes, that assist thousands of people by boat and from the waterfront. For that special event is positioned a bridge made by boats, which starts at Zattere, crosses the Giudecca Canal and arrives just in front of the Redentore Church.
How to get to the Giudecca.
From Piazzale Roma or the train station you take the waterbus line 2 or 41 provided by Actv (price € 6.50). To reach the Giudecca from S. Mark’s area you take from stop “S. Zaccaria” (Jolanda) line 2 or 42. The Giudecca has the following waterbus stops: “Palanca”, “Redentore” and “Zitelle.” The word “Palanca” derives from the name of the coin that you once had to pay for ferries to cross the Giudecca Canal. From stop “Zattere” you cross the canal by ferry line 2.

A WALK ON SAN ERASMO ISLAND IN VENICE