Redeemer

The Festa del Redentore (Redentore Festival) is one of the Venetians' most treasured festivities.

Hundreds of boats, lit by paper lanterns and decorated with colored balloons and boughs, flow into the San Marco Basin and into the Giudecca Canal at sunset, and between music and songs wait for the great fireworks show. The show is held in the night between Saturday and Sunday on the San Marco basin and illuminates the sky and the water of Venice with lights and colors.

It is the event that recalls the construction of the Chiesa del Redentore (Church of the Redeemer) as a vote for deliverance of the city from the plague of 1577. In July of the same year the city decided to celebrate the event on an annual basis, with the preparation of a votive bridge. This celebration is still observed even after almost five centuries.