Blog > Redeemer Festival
The Redeemer is one of the favourite event of Venetians.It takes place on the third week end of July
In 1576 the Senate of the city of Venice decided to build a Church as an ex voto to free the city from the plague that struck between 1575 and 1577 (probably the worst after that of 1348). The project of the Church was entrusted to Andrea Palladio who collaborated with Andrea da Ponte (the same who designed the current Rialto Bridge)
After two months from the laying of the first stone the epidemic ceased (the construction of the Church of the Redeemer ended in 1592) and to celebrate the liberation from the plague was established the Feast of the Redeemer
It remembers the Grace received by the city after the plague epidemic of 1577. The Doge urged the citizens to pray for the end of the epidemic and ordered to build a temple dedicated to the Redeemer as soon as the plague was over. From that day, every year on the third Sunday of July a votive bridge is erected from Venice to the Island of Giudecca to let the faithful who thank the Redeemer for the end of the Epidemic.Today the celebrations begin on Saturday with the wonderful Fireworks Show on the water between Piazza San Marco and Giudecca Island.
