
Redentore Festival
The church of Redentore is one of the most outstanding buildings that define the skyline of Giudecca island. Yes, in Venice we do not have skyscrapers, we have churches and bell towers that define our landscape! As regards the above mentioned church, the story of its foundation is related to one of the plague epidemics that affected Venice over the centuries. We were in 1575, the plague hit the city, in two years there were almost 50,000 victims, if you think that at that time the population of Venice consisted of 150,000 people, this means that one third of the city was killed by the plague. There was no treatment to the disease, people were so desperate that they started thinking that the plague was a punishment sent from God in order to redeem them from their sins. In 1576 the Senate made a vow: they would have financed the building of a church in exchange of God’s help.
Giudecca canal
Redeemer festival
The Redentore festival is very popular among Venetians, the celebrations start on the Saturday: in the evening the Giudecca Canal is closed to public transport, you can only go there by private boat and then you must stop there for a few hours until traffic is opened again. Why? Well, there is a unique show on that night! All boats are decorated with balloons, flowers and candles, people have dinner on the boats or they organize long tables all along the canal side on Giudecca island.
It’s a chance to party together, to celebrate the sense of community that is still surviving in Venice. During Redentore night friends, neighbours and relatives organize their dinner together: the most typical food consists of bigoli with onion and anchovies, sweet and sour sardines, stuffed duck, escargots and the most typical summer fruit: watermelon! Wine is another protagonist of the night, together with music and celebrations.
