CARNIVAL OF VENICE

This event has very ancient origins: it seems in fact that its first celebration was in 1296 when the highest personalities of the Republic decided to celebrate the day before the "Quaresima".
During the Serenissima the Carnival was celebrated for six weeks; during that time Carnival had its highest point of glory, becoming famous all around Europe and making Venice the centre of entertainment and pastime.
During the Carnival, social classes' appearance was completely reversed; a poor could become a noble and a noble could pretend to be an everyday person.
Carnival means "reversing all standards and ordinary things", that is to say being just for a while away from social conventions.
The celebrations start with the so called "Volo dell'Angelo" (Angel's Fly) today known as "Volo della Colombina". In the past, it consisted in a series of acrobatic movements executed by a man who was tied up by a rope; he had to go through the rope from St. Mark's Basilica to the Doge's Palace. Then he dedicated flowers and poems to the Doge. For sure a breathtaking performance to see!
The last day of the Carnival is called Martedì Grasso, and it's a tradition to burn the symbol of Carnival in St. Mark's Square, still today. That's a metaphor of evils who are kept away from the lagoon in such way.
Probably not everyone know that at the same time, a "controcarnival" was wanted by Church, which organised processions in order to absolve Carnival's sins.
Today Carnival represents a very fascinating event for tourists. On one hand you can enter a magic atmosphere and breathe traditional customs of the past kept intact for years, on the other hand you can have fun with the several animations spread all around Venice.

The Carnival in Venice is also well appreciated thanks to the famous and historic masks that it has created during the time. Many visitors come here every year in February, to admire and immortalize the unique scene represented by coloured and charming masks all around the city.
If you wish to know something more about the famous masks of Venice, visit our dedicated page.

VENICE HISTORICAL REGATTA

The historical Regatta is celebrated every first Sunday of September and it's one of the most appreciated events by Venetians being the most important moment of the agonistic season of Venetian rowing clubs.
This extraordinary typical Venetian sport competition was started for the first time in 1315 in order to give homage to military victories as well as to the Queen of Cypro, Caterina Cornaro, who signed the beginning of Serenissima's supremacy on the Mediterranean Sea.
Nowadays it's composed in two different parts:
– the corteo storico (historical parade);
– the Regata (the Regatta).
The Regatta starts with the traditional procession on water of the boats Bissone, Bucintoro and the boats of the Venetian rowing clubs.
The first race after the parade is between young rowers on very technical boats. After them, it's time for women to row the "Mascarete", a special boat much lighter than the ordinary ones.
The third race sees as protagonists men on six-oared boats named "Caorline"; today they are used only on occasion of this festivity.
The race between experienced rowers on very light two–oared boats (Gondolini) to win the ambitious Regatta's route is the most emotional moment of the competition. The winners receive the ambitious red flags; the rowers that finish second, third and fourth receive respectively white, green and blue flags.

THE REGATTA'S ROUTE starts at Riva degli Schiavoni passing through the Grand Canal arriving to the St. Lucia Station then the boats come back towards the floating platform near Ca' Foscari where the winners are proclaimed.

PALIO OF THE ANCIENT MARITIME REPUBLICS

The Palio of the Ancient Maritime Republics (Venice, Pisa, Amalfi, Genoa) - the most important Italian seaports in the medieval times - takes place in turn in the Lagoon, in the Arno and on the Mediterranean Sea. In Venice the festivity is dedicated to the Queen Caterina Corsaro, who once donated the island of Cypro to the Serenissima.
The highest Venetian offices (Doge, Senators, Ambassadors) unthread during the parade. After the procession, the race between the four Republics begins Four boats named "Galeoni" representing the Republics, compete each other for winning the ambitious price, which consists in a medieval banner (the palio).
The winners keep the prize until the next year, when the palio passes into the hands of other winners.

THE VENICE BIENNALE

The Venice Biennale is one of the most prestigious cultural events in the world. Its long history starts in 1895, when the first International Art Exhibition was organized. In the years to come, La biennale constantly expanded its content to Music, Cinema, Theatre, Architecture and Dance.

Art
The First exhibition was planned to be a "national artistic exhibition" for the celebration of the silver anniversary of King Umberto and Margherita of Savoy, but after a 2 years planning and organizing it became the great international exhibition. There were over 200 000 visitors at the first edition. Later on, the manifestation got its name Biennale because it took place every two years. The exhibition was organized not only to invite major foreign and Italian artists, but to include also uninvited Italian painters and sculptors.
For the second Biennale, in 1897, alongside with the official major Prize, the jury set up a Critic's Prize, which improved the promotion of the event and the quality of Italian art criticism in that period.
In 1903, in the occasion of the 5th Biennale some new ideas were adopted: the inclusion of the decorative arts, such as furnishing, and the opening of the Salon des Réfusées, which collected unselected works.
From 1907 on started the building of the foreign pavilions in order to host their own national work during the Biennale exhibition. The first was Belgium pavilion, then followed British, German, Hungarian, French, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, and so on. The Giardini area, where the pavilions are located currently hosts 29 of them. Countries that do not have their own Pavilion an the Giardini are exhibited in other venues across Venice.
In the period between the 1920s and 1930s Biennale established its Archive under the name of the Historical Institute of Contemporary Art. The Biennale also begun to organize exhibitions of Italian art abroad.
The 24th Biennale was considered very important for the reconsideration of the avant-garde. Contemporary art brought new trends such as Cubism, Surrealism, the works of Picasso, Dalì, Kandinsky, Mirò,...
The 1964 edition announced the arrival of Pop Art in Europe.
The 1968 protests had their strong effect on the 35th edition, and many artists either covered up their works or turned them over. The Grand Prizes were abolished.
The prizes were finally brought back to the Biennale in 1986.
The 52nd Biennale held in 2007 was one of the most visited in the whole history of the exhibition.

Music
The International Festival of Contemporary Music which is a part of the Venice Biennale was established in 1930. It was the second festival made by this organization. Since 1930 the Festival has featured new compositions, European and world premieres, famous ensembles and soloists.

Cinema
Right after the International Festival of Contemporary Music, the Biennale introduced another international category: "Esposizione d'Arte Cinematografica" in 1932 for the occasion of the XVIII° Venice Biennale, and so this became the first international event of this type ever.
The first edition was not a competitive event. It presented a great number of films that became classics in the history of cinematography. The first film shown at the Festival was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Rouben Mamoulian.
The competition was introduced for the second 1934 edition, but there was no actual jury. The awards were assigned by the President of the Biennale, upon the opinion of audience and experts. The "Coppa Mussolini" was introduced for the best foreign and Italian film, and the "Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment" for best actor and actress. Since the year after, the Festival became a yearly event. The actors' award was renamed "Coppa Volpi".
In the years to follow, an international jury was nominated and new Palazzo del Cinema was inaugurated.
During the years of the II World War, the Festival was held three times, but it was limited to the countries members or sympathizers of the Alliance.
After the war, the 1947 Festival was one of the best festivals, held in the courtyard of the Ducal Palace, it saw the return of the USSR and other countries to the Biennale. It was also introduced the International Grand Prix of Venice.
In the 1949, the Festival returned permanently to the Palazzo del Cinema, which wasn't in use during the war, and the Golden Lion of St. Mark was introduced for the best film. It was in use until the 1968, and since the statue was from the fascistic era, during the '68 climate the stop for the previous era was made. Until the 1980 the Lions were not awarded. In the meantime, some festivals were non competitive, some other festivals of the similar nature were born, and some were skipped.
At the beginning of the '80s, the Festival started to regain its popularity and prestige. The new section was introduced named Mezzogiorno-Mezzanotte. In the 1980 the Golden Lion was re-introduced. In the 1984 the SIC (International Critics' Week) was established and it was held independently by the National Italian Film Critics Union.
The year of '88 saw the introduction of some new sections: Orizzonti, Notte, Eventi speciali.
During the 1990s the Festival was visited by a large number of US Hollywood stars.
In the 2004, 2005 and 2006 the retrospective sections were dedicated respectively to the Secret History of Italian Cinema, Asian Cinema, Russian Cinema. The 2007 edition was much about the 75th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival.

Theatre
The year of 1934 saw the birth of the Venice Biennale's International Theatre Festival. The idea was to present classic works that spoke about Venice. One of the first performances was Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
From the second edition the festival began its annual representation.
At the end of 1970s the famous Theatre Carnival was established. Through years, the Theatre Festival explored many different topics from experimental program named Visionaries & Peacemakers directed by Peter Sellars, Massimo Castri's edition dedicated to modern Italian theatre, to Goldoni and the exploration of his work.

Architecture
The first International Architecture Exhibition took place in 1980. It had as a topic The presence of the Past. From the first year until today the Festival was not very regular with dates, but when organized it touched some interesting ideas and themes like an architecture in Islamic countries, Hendrik Petrus Berlage, projects designs for A Gateway to Venice, the Italian Pavilion, the new Bookshop Pavilion.
A lot of contemporary masters of architecture took part in the Biennale of Venice, showing their interesting ways of creativity and applicability.

Dance
The Dance section of the Venice Biennale is the youngest one, established in 1998. Before the '98 the dance section was a part of the Music section.
The Biennale opened the first modern and contemporary dance academy in Italy, the Accademia Isola Danza. Developing through time, at its 4th year of existence, the Accademy Isola Danza became the hot spot for dance training.
In the 2003 the new formula was adopted: the section was to be directed every year by a different artist (until then it was a four-year period appointed to Carolyn Carlson). This was also the year when the term "festival" was finally introduced for the dance section. Then director of the festival, Frédéric Flamand entitled his festival Body ↔ City.
In 2004 the Festival was divided into New World and Old World parts.
The years to come were focused on the body as the main theme.
In 2005 Carolyn Carlson was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and this was the first Golden Lion that the performing arts sections started to award annually from 2006.

THE FESTIVITY OF THE REDENTORE

The city celebrates the Festivity of the Redentore every third Sunday of July, and it is both a religious and a profane festival very appreciated by Venetians.
It recalls the end of an epidemic plague in the second half of XVII° century. History tells that the plague was taken back from the Orient due to the commercial trades.
Doge Venier promised to built a new church whenever the Serenissima had managed to escape the plague. When it vanished, the Doge kept his promise and committed the project of the church to Palladio in 1592.
The former church was made of wood but very quickly concluded according to the Palladio's design.
Every year, on the occasion of the church's construction anniversary lots of boats decorated with lights leave from the bridge of St. Mark Square towards the church. People walk on a special temporary bridge assembled on floating platforms, that connects Venice to the island of Giudecca. In this way, Venetians who don't have a boat can reach the Church of Redentore by foot and they usually enjoy the festivity drinking wine and eating the "Saor" traditional Venice dish.
The celebration begins in the morning and ends at midnight, when coloured fireworks illuminate the whole St. Mark's area and its beautiful buildings.
Nowadays festivity of the Redentore is also an occasion for young people to spend a pleasant and romantic daytime on boat. It's possible to remain in St. Mark's Square, but generally Venetians prefer to stay in the island of Giudecca. There, families take a seat at open air and eat near the shore or celebrate festivity directly on the boat.

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

The Venice Film Festival takes place from the last week of August to the first week of September. It's the oldest European film festival: it was organized for the first time in 1932.
The festival is part of the Venice Biennale, a major exhibition of contemporary art held every two years.
The "Leone d'Oro" (Golden Lion) was introduced in 1949, and it is the highest recognition in the field of cinema, awarded to the best screened films. The award is represented by a replica of the Golden Lion situated in St. Mark's Square.
It's a very important artistic recognition along with the "Palma d'Oro" in Cannes and the "Orso d'Oro" in Berlin, often in countertrend with American Oscars. With time the Venice Film Festival became both an attractive celebration and a launch window for new actors.
The Festival was suspended during the 2nd World War and started again in 1946, when the Southerner by Renoir won the first price.
No prizes were awarded between 1969 and 1979, as a result of the 1968 Lion awarded to the German film "Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos" that gave life to serious political debates.
Aside from being an important award ceremony, it has also become a fashion runway for celebrities.

VENICE MARATHON

The Marathon of Venice is an annual running competition held in the last two weeks of October.
The first edition was in 1986, when 712 people attended the competition giving a great push to Italian sport.
The Marathon starts at Villa Pisani in Stra, a village near Padua. The route goes on road n.11, then passes across Fiesso d'Artico, Dolo, Mira, Oriago and Malcontenta in the direction of Mestre. After 5 km, the run continues in St. Giuliano's park for about 3 km before reaching Venice.
For sure, the most difficult part of the marathon is represented by the Ponte della Libertà (Freedom's Bridge), that connects the suborbs to the city. It brings to the port area in the direction of the old city centre, passing by all the famous bridges of the city, by St. Mark's Square, Riva of Schiavoni, Riva of Ca' di Dio and Riva of San Biagio.
The arrival is fixed at Riva of Sette Martiri. The total distance of the marathon is 42 km (26 miles). To participate in the Venice Marathon you must be at least 18 years old and have the member card of FEDAL.

MADONNA DELLA SALUTE FESTIVITY

The "Virgin's Celebration" is a catholic event that generally does not attract many tourists who do not practice the religion. This celebration evokes the terrifying epidemic plague that happened from 1629 to 1631 when German and French troops carried the plague from Mantua, in 1629. It caused many victims, more than 11.000 estimated only in November.
Venetians, decided to build this basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary – who for various reasons was believed to be the protector of the Republic – to protect themselves from the plague. The project was given to the architect Baldassarre Longhena. Venice wanted a new majestic church which had to celebrate the Virgin Mary and the Serenissima. The Church was completed in 1681.
Nowadays, each 21st of November the festivity is celebrated. A temporary bridge of boats is built, that crosses the Grand Canal connecting San Moisè and Santa Maria del Giglio. Thousands of people cross the bridge each year to the main altar to thank and to ask the Virgin Mary to intercede for their health.