The Redentore is one of the Venetians’ most treasured festivities, and is a tourist attraction thanks to the spectacular firework display in the evening. It falls on the third Sunday in July, when Holy Mass is held in the presence of the Patriarch, followed by a religious procession. But the special moment of the festivity takes place on Saturday night: with the unbeatable backdrop of Saint Mark’s Basin, a play of lights and reflections produce a kaleidoscope of colours with the silhouetted spires, domes and bell towers of the city behind. In the three years between 1575 and 1577 the Serenissima was tormented by the plague: aided by the high density of the population, the disease spread through the city, causing terrible losses. Almost 50,000 died, which was more than a third of the city’s inhabitants. On September 4, 1576, the Senate decided that the Doge should announce the vow to erect a church dedicated to the Redentore (Redeemer), in return for help in ending the plague. On July 13, 1577, the plague was declared definitively over and it was decided that the city’s liberation from the terrible disease should be celebrated on the third Sunday in July. The Redentore today:Tradition dictates that at sunset the well illuminated boats, decorated with boughs and coloured balloons, begin congregating in Saint Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca Canal. In the boat, there are either carefully prepared or hastily put-together tables laden with traditional Venetian dishes for dinner. Everyone eats, drinks, dances and jokes whilst waiting for the firework display, which begins at 11.30pm and lasts until after midnight.
Then the boats slowly set off for home or for the Lido, to wait for sunrise. Whilst thousands of tourists watch the firework display from the banks of the Giudecca and along Saint Mark’s Basin, Venetians traditionally watch it from their specially decorated boats which are illuminated with coloured paper lanterns. The surface of the water is literally teeming with thousands of lights and boats.