THE UNKNOWN STORY OF FESTA DELLA SENSA
So it’s back in full edition: On 29 May 2022, you can watch La Festa della Sensa again. Hundreds of boats, official and private ones, small and large ones dot the so-called Bacino di San Marco in the morning, going all the way from the Grand Canal towards San Nicolò on the Lido. But do you know the story of this special day, in other words, what we’re celebrating in Venice? Here’s the story and it will tell you a lot about the collective memory of this city.
In 1000 AD, Venice was at crossroads: Was our city going to develop into a trading super power, or remain an insignificant settlement in a swampy Lagoon on the northern Adriatic shore?
This fledgling Republic needed a stable government, reliable boats capable of transporting salt, spices and other luxury goods to set up a trading empire. And of course, reliable partners!
On their way from Venice to Constantinople and Alexandria (Egypt), the Venetian cogs used to make a break in the towns on the Dalmatian coast to load drinking water and food supplies for the journey ahead. The Venetian cogs would stop for a couple of weeks, and the crews would take a break before continuing their voyage. Which wasn’t so easy, as a few towns were opposed to the Venetian presence, and Saracen pirates often attacked the Venetian fleet.
In a diplomatic masterpiece, Doge Pietro Orseolo commissioned an impressive fleet in the Arsenale and officially “visited” the towns on the Dalmatian coast. Instead of paying “tribute” as Venetians had done before, the Doge decided to stage a show with his new and very impressive fleet, and thus succeeded in “convincing” the the Dalmatian towns to stop attacking the Venetians. As a result, the Doge officially proclaimed these towns equal partners in all future commerce of Venice.
And that’s what they became, steadfast partners, supporting Venice long after the fall of the Republic on 13 May 1797. Some of them recall La Serenissima to this day, and still celebrate ancient Venetian holidays!
Also, Dalmatia produced wine, olives and wheat and delivered pine wood for the Venetian fleet, and marble for many buildings in Venice.
Every year since 1000 AD, Venetians HAVE STAGED this event, with the “Doge”, his “entourage” and the people of Venice going in their boats to the Lido (San Nicolò), where the Doge “marrieS” the sea (= the new trading partners from Dalmatia) by throwing a golden ring into the water.
This annual celebration was interrupted after the fall of the Republic in 1797 but was taken up in 1965.
During the times of the Venetian Republic, in addition to the formal ceremony on the boats, the Festa della Sensa was celebrated with a grand fair organized in Piazza San Marco, called FIERA DELLA SENSA.
A fair that lasted two weeks, representing a sort of prolongation of Carnival (which lasted much longer in the past, that is, until the year 1797). And guess who was invited as special guests to expose their merchandise – the cities of Dalmatia!