.venice film festival.

Venice Film Festival 2010

Venice Film Festival is an annual event which takes place at the end of August / beginning of September. It's one of the events organised by the Venice Biennale organisation, and is an important public relations event for the city. Although there are art-house films and prizes, each year there is a Hollywood element which attracts the paparazzi and gives the city a bit of glitz.

The 2010 Venice Film Festival runs from 1st-11th September. It opens with Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky. This is the 67th edition of the festival, which has been running since 1932 (the event skipped a few years). During its first years, there was a 'Coppa Mussolini' for the best films.

.Festa della Salute.

History of the festival

The Festa della Salute takes place in Venice on the 21st November every year. Like the Festa del Redentore, the event is a celebration for the end of a historic bout of plague, this one in the seventeenth century. A day of masses takes place at theChurch of Santa Maria della Salute, and a temporary votive bridge is set up across the Grand Canal, so that celebrants can cross the water from Giglio to a lane near the Salute.

The Festa della Salute today

This is a very busy day, and is very important to local people. Fur-wrapped and scarf-muffled, they walk through the lanes of Venice towards the bridge and the church, shepherded at times by 'traffic' police enforcing one-way routes. In front of the church is an array of little stalls selling candles for the worshippers: it's mildly amusing to see the solemn Venetians, heirs of traders, shopping around for the best deal ("Three for five euros"). After their stately progress through the church, where masses are said throughout the day, they re-emerge with more greeting of friends, to the sound of the ringing church bells.

The next port of call is fifty yards away, in a small campo where more market stalls are set out, these ones of more interest to the children who've been brought here by their parents. At these colourful stands, from solemn salesmen in white coats, you can buy sweets, doughnuts, toffee apples, candy floss and all sorts of caramelised fruit on sticks. Balloons are also an important feature for the younger Venetians, and they head happily home with giant helium balloons bobbing above their heads.

This is a religious festival, still taken quite seriously, rather than an excuse for a party like the Redentore. Although it's not wildly exciting for the visitor, it's touching to see the Venetians treading in the footsteps of their ancestors, pacing out their ritual route, greeting acquaintances and heading to the Salute to pay their respects as they've done every year of their lives.

Additional boats are put on for this stretch of the Grand Canal, all stopping at the Salute vaporetto stop; although the stop of Giglio opposite is closed for the day to make way for the bridge.

Festa del Redentore..

History of the festival

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Between 1575 and 1577 Venice was suffering from a dreadful outbreak of the plague. More than a third of the population died. In September 1576 the Senate voted to erect a church dedicated to Christ the Redeemer as an offering and a plea for divine help. The following year, in July, the city was finally declared free of disease, and it was decided to celebrate Venice's deliverance every year with a festival and a church service.

Each year a temporary bridge, floating on pontoons, is erected over the Giudecca Canal between the Zattere and the Church of the Redentore. The religious celebrations are held on the third Sunday of July. The night before (Saturday) is a great party with feasting followed by night-time fireworks and the weekend finishes with a gondola regatta.

While the famous February Carnival is an event largely re-created for tourists, the Redentore is still an authentically local event, and is very important to the people of Venice.

.The Vogalonga.

This is a huge and cheerful rowing event which takes place on a Sunday in May or June. . Thousands of participants row around a 30km course, reclaiming the lagoon from motorized boats.

The Vogalonga is a splendid, fun and thoroughly worthy event which takes place once a year in Venice and its lagoon. It's held on a Sunday morning in May or June. Like a protest, a get-together and a non-competitive race rolled into one, this is an event where rowers take over the lagoon and canals. They oust the destructive motorboats which churn up the fragile lagoon ecosystem and damage Venice's buildings, and for one morning the peace is disturbed only by the slap of oars, the shouts and songs of rowing teams and the applause of enthusiastic spectators. 

Pretty much any kind of rowing craft can take part, and does, from canoes to dragon boats. In 2007, for the 33rd Vogalonga, there were a record 5,600 participants, in over 1,500 boats. Teams and individuals from the Veneto, from the rest of Italy and from many other countries join in and add to the party atmosphere. Spectators watch from any vantage point they can find, enjoying the entertainment and encouraging the tired rowers as they approach the final stretch along the Grand Canal. Some teams dress up in costumes, others, in the livery of their rowing clubs, raise their oars in salute. The atmosphere is jolly, with extra cheers for those who make a special effort, such as bringing an onboard bagpiper. 

Watching the Vogalonga 

The start is at about 9am in the Bacino di San Marco, the wide stretch of water in front of St. Mark's and the Ducal Palace. The 30km course extends over the northern lagoon, past the islands of Sant'Erasmo, Burano and Mazzorbo and through the centre of Murano before returning to Venice via the canale di Cannareggio and proceeding down the Grand Canal to the finish. A good place to watch from is the Cannaregio canal in late morning - unlike the Grand Canal, this has pavements right down both sides, as well as bridges to view from. There are cafes and restaurants where you can pull up a chair by the canal and applaud the rowing teams politely. Otherwise find a vantage point along the Grand Canal. 

Bear in mind that public transport is largely suspended during the Vogalonga - this makes it harder to get about town, but does mean that you can use the redundant vaporetto stops as viewing platforms.

.carnival.

Carnival, or Carnevale, has been celebrated for centuries throughout Italy. The name is said to derive from the wordscarne vale - 'farewell to meat' - which explain the function of the celebration: an opportunity to indulge and use up such treats before the start of Lent (like an extended Pancake Day). 

In modern Italy Carnevale is generally a time for children, who are led, carried and wheeled around town dressed in costumes - from cute fluffy animal suits to musketeers and Harry Potters, leaving a trail of confetti, sweets and 'silly string' littering streets and piazzas. Sometimes the celebrations extend to organised events for the whole community, but on the whole it's not a very important time for adults. 

In Venice, however, the tourist board and hoteliers hit upon a fantastic money-earner in the 1980s when they revived a picturesque version of Venice's past. In Venice it's the grown-ups who have most of the fun, with masked balls, costume parades and a slightly antiseptic nostalgia for more decadent times. 

Carnival in Venice 

However much the modern Carnival may be contrived for tourists, it's undeniably atmospheric to walk down a lane in Venice and pass cloaked and masked figures. The tourist board and hotels urge their guests to participate by wearing at least a mask as they tour the town. It can be an exciting time for children, as long as the dehumanizing masks don't scare them, and there are plenty of opportunities for fun. Young and old can admire the spectacle and select their favorite costumed characters, and there are plenty of opportunities to photograph your loved ones alongside dramatically-costumed carnival-goers. The city is very busy, particularly during the two Carnival weekends, and there is a genuinely festive atmosphere.

Since 2008 the Carnival has been organised for the first time by a consortium headed by the Venice Casino. There are lots of events scheduled all around Venice, with a programme available online and from the tourist information offices.