News from Italy
The Festa della Sensa is celebrated in Venice today
Vita gazette – Festa della Sensa in Venice, the city marries its sea. Renewed the centuries-old ceremony with the traditional ring. The Marriage of Venice to the Sea is renewed before the Church of San Nicolò del Lido.
Venice celebrated its symbolic marriage with the sea on the day of the “Sensa”, that is, of the Ascension. An ancient festival to remember the sign of the authority and dominion of Venice on the Adriatic.
“We marry you, o sea, as a sign of true and perpetual dominion”. With this ritual formula pronounced by the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, and the dogal ring’s launch into the waters in front of the church of San Nicolò del Lido, the Marriage of the Sea was thus renewed. The ceremony was attended by the patriarch Francesco Moraglia and the admiral of the Navy, Andrea Petroni. They, too, are protagonists of the traditional historical procession with rowers in period costumes, followed by hundreds of boats of the main Venetian rowing companies of Venetian rowing, with their over 450 oars. With the ring, a laurel wreath was thrown into the water for all the fallen of the sea. To accompany the rite, the alzaremi and the notes of the hymn of San Marco. Also attending the ceremony was the mayor of Longarone, Roberto Padrin, who shortly before, at the Royal Gardens, had received the dogal ring for the Adriatic twinning. The Festival commemorates two important events: the aid brought by the doge Pietro II Orseolo to the populations of Dalmatia, threatened by the Slavs, on May 9 of the year 1000, and the signing, in 1177, of the peace treaty between the doge Sebastiano Ziani, Pope Alexander III and the emperor Federico Barbarossa, which put an end to the age-old diatribe between the Papacy and the Empire. Both celebrate the power of the Serenissima, founded on knowledge and control of the sea.
In the beginning, the rite was celebratory, religious and superstitious at the same time, only to propitiate the tranquillity of the sea and include the visit of the Doge to the sea and the blessing of the waters of the Adriatic. The marriage of the sea was then grafted onto this basis: the Doge, aboard the Bucintoro, received the blessing of the Bishop, who embarked at the height of S. Pietro di Castello and once he reached the mouth of the port of Lido, launched in the waters a golden ring, pronouncing the formula: “Desponsamus te, mare. In signum veri perpetuique dominii”.
1. To improve the effectiveness of the writing, it could be helpful to provide more context around the historical significance of the Festa della Sensa. Providing additional background information on the festival’s history and origins could help readers more fully appreciate the significance of the ceremony and its role in Venetian culture and history.
2. Another way to improve the effectiveness of the writing could be to provide more detail and description of the ceremony itself. Providing a more vivid and detailed account of the procession, the launching of the dogal ring, and the other rituals and traditions involved in the Marriage of the Sea ceremony could help readers better understand and appreciate the cultural significance of the event.
3. Finally, to improve the effectiveness of the writing, it could be helpful to explore the contemporary relevance of the Festa della Sensa. Examining the modern-day significance of the festival and its role in contemporary Venetian culture could help readers better understand the ways in which Venetian identity and traditions continue to evolve and adapt over time.
1. To improve the effectiveness of the writing, it could be helpful to provide more context around the historical significance of the Festa della Sensa. Providing additional background information on the festival’s history and origins could help readers more fully appreciate the significance of the ceremony and its role in Venetian culture and history.
2. Another way to improve the effectiveness of the writing could be to provide more detail and description of the ceremony itself. Providing a more vivid and detailed account of the procession, the launching of the dogal ring, and the other rituals and traditions involved in the Marriage of the Sea ceremony could help readers better understand and appreciate the cultural significance of the event.
3. Finally, to improve the effectiveness of the writing, it could be helpful to explore the contemporary relevance of the Festa della Sensa. Examining the modern-day significance of the festival and its role in contemporary Venetian culture could help readers better understand the ways in which Venetian identity and traditions continue to evolve and adapt over time.
The story of the Festa della Sensa, when Venice marries its sea
Two important events are celebrated during the Festa della Sensa: the first, when on May 9 of the year 1000, the Doge Pietro II Orseolo rescued the populations of Dalmatia threatened by the Slavs; the second, when in the year 1177, under the doge Sebastiano Ziani, Pope Alexander III and the emperor Federico Barbarossa stipulated a peace treaty in Venice which put an end to the age-old dispute between the Papacy and the Empire. In the beginning, the rite was both celebratory, religious and superstitious to appease the tranquillity of the sea, and contemplated a simple ceremony, with the Doge visiting the ocean and blessing the waters of the Adriatic. The marriage of the sea was then grafted onto this pre-existing rite. Since then, Venice has celebrated its dominion over the sea by throwing a golden ring into the waters in a mystical marriage renewed yearly with the words “Despondemus te, mare, in signum true and perpetual domains”.
How the wedding of the sea was celebrated in the past
According to historical reconstructions, the ceremony of the Sensa began with a mass in the monastery of Sant’Elena, after which the bishop of Castello climbed onto the sumptuous Bucintoro with a container filled with holy water, a vase with salt and an olive branch which served as a sprinkler. The sacred water was poured into the sea, and the Most Serene Doge only threw the ring into the waves. Finally, the bishop and the doge landed on the Lido, and there, a religious procession was formed, which headed towards the church of San Nicolò.
The traditional market of the Sensa
From about 1300, a market gradually acquired greater importance on the occasion of the Sensa. The Sensa market lasted 15 days, took place in Piazza San Marco and saw traders but also artists exhibiting. Many foreigners went to Venice to buy the goods the city imported from the East: silks and drapes but also typically Venetian products, such as glass objects and mirrors. The fair had such a high turnover that it was suspended only on very few occasions: for the election of Doge Andrea Gritti in 1523 or because of the plagues (in 1498, 1530 and 1575). In Piazza San Marco, the many stalls were initially placed disorderly, but over the years, the market was structured with wooden buildings leaning against each other. In 1777 an actual architectural structure was built, an elliptical plant apparatus, entirely in wood and painted, with statues crowning the four entrances that opened towards the basilica, the New Procuratories, the church of San Geminiano and the Old Procurators. This apparatus cost 57,088 ducats, an enormous figure in a difficult moment for the Venetian economy. In the internal arch, 52 shops were housed; in the external one, another 50 were illuminated at night using 200 crystal lamps powered by oil. Unfortunately, even this precious building suffered the same fate as the Bucintoro and, in 1797, was set on fire.