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Venice: Sensa!

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FESTA DELLA SENSA – THE MARRIAGE TO THE SEA

One of the oldest Venetian ceremonies, the Festa della Sensa, celebrates the naval power under Doge Pietro Orseolo. It began in the year 1000, when the naval fleet of the Serenissima - the Venetian empire - departed on Ascension Day to attack Dalmatian pirates who were threatening the Istrian coast. The Venetian navy's famous victory over the Slavic pirates was the beginning of the rapid expansion of the Serenissima's political, commercial and military influence on the Adriatic Sea. The celebration of the Sensa began rather simply, as a procession of the the Doge upon his barge. In later years the Doge, upon his magnificent ship the Bucintoro, would be followed by a fleet of boats to the entrance of the port at the Lido, where the Bishop of Olivolo (Castello) blessed the lagoon in peace and gratitude.

On Ascension Day the Mayor, aboard the small Bucintoro (used in the parade of the Regata Storica), flanked by other boats from the Venetian Rowing Societies, rows to the mouth of the port of San Nicolò, near the Lido. There, he throws the gold ring into the lagoon to symbolize the eternal union of Venice and the sea. In some years - but infrequently - the Fiera of the Sensa is set up in Campo San Stefano using the traditional painted Carnival enclosures.