The Festa del Redentore is a traditional Venetian festival dating from the 16th Century and celebrated on the third Sunday of July on the island of Giudecca.
This festival commemorates the construction, by order of the Venetian Senate, of the Chiesa del Redentore in thanksgiving for the end of the terrible plague that swept through Venice in 1576.

This magnificent church dominates the landscape of the Giudecca and is a perfect synthesis of the monumental Renaissance style of the great architect Andrea Palladio.
Work was started on 3rd May in 1577.

It was Sunday, 21st July 1578, when the Doge Sebastiano Venier finally proclaimed the Venetian Republic to be free from the plague.
Since then the city of Venice has always celebrated its deliverance with a evocative rite that has changed little over the centuries: the island of Giudecca is connected to Venice by a bridge of floating platforms (originally 80 galleys) allowing the Patriarch of Venice to reach the Basilical del Redentore and so bless the entire city at the end of the feast.

The festivities are not limited to the Basilica, but are traditionally extended throughout Venice, with many events in the city’s squares. This is especially true of St. Mark’s Basin: this fills with boats decorated with lights and garlands in the evening carrying Venetians and tourists who celebrate by singing and eating (typical Venetian dishes, such as pasta and beans and “sarde in soar”).
The climax of the festival is, of course, a fireworks display that lights up the unmistakable and magical Venetian night sky.

1500 - - rev. 0.1.6