Italy Events and Festivals

5/01/2009 - 5/01/2009Marriage to the Sea (Festa della Sensa)

This festival dates back to the days when the Doge demonstrated the supremacy of Venice and of the Republic's dominion in the gulf by taking a ceremonial barge out to the mouth of San Nicolo port and throwing a gold ring into the sea. Its earliest origins are linked to an old Byzantine feast and to a pagan ritual for Neptune, making this the oldest festival in Venice. In today's ceremony, the Mayor of Venice along with civic dignitaries and religious and military representatives leave Saint Mark's Square in a ceremonial boat, and sail to the Port of San Nicolo where a gold ring is flung with all due ceremony into the waves.