Festa della Salute

A celebration held every year on 21 November at Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. Like Redentore, it was originally about giving thanks for the end of a plague - this one in the mid-17th century. Also like Redentore, a temporary bridge is erected, this one across the Grand Canal. Unlike Redentore, it is freezing and there are no party boats or fireworks. I wouldn't say there was no party atmosphere though, but we'll get to that later.

The 21st this year being a Monday, I'll begin with a bit of our whole Salute day off. It started with some voting drama. As straight forward as it should be to cast a special vote in the New Zealand elections, circumstances have conspired a little against us, not in a major way, just in enough minor ways to make the whole experience less than fun, but hopefully not unsuccessful, we'll probably never know. It started with some easy enough online requests, but then we had wait an age for post from NZ of what we thought would be our voting papers but which turned out to just be an instruction pack - all the information of which was readily available online. Then came the printing and the scanning, easy enough when you've got printers and scanners, less convenient when you don't. Eventually our voting papers came through, via email, requiring more printing, and late last week we made our ticks, with only a week up our sleeves to get them in. In order to cast our votes, we had two options. One - fax them to a special number in Wellington by our Friday night at the latest. Two - post them to the embassy in Rome, arriving by 4pm Friday at the latest. Which brings us to Monday, days off usually being good days to get things done that you've been putting off all week, like vacuuming and voting. So with only four or five days to go, depending on how you count it, and knowing better than to rely on the postal service here, we headed to our local tabacchini to send the fax. Luckily for us (it turned out later), the line wouldn't connect and the fax wouldn't send. The next four or so tabacchini we enquired at didn't have fax machines, but the fifth did, along with a very helpful and friendly tabaccaio. She started off by checking in her book how much it would cost to send. Six pages faxed to a number in New Zealand = €30. This invoked the question: how much would you pay to vote? And the answer: probably a lot, even in these seemingly hopeless elections (saying that, a Horizon poll last week did provide a glimmer of hope). But just not until all (cheaper) options had been fully canvassed. So we backed straight out of the tabacchini and across the calle to the post office, but it being a vague kind of holiday (i.e. kids didn't seem to be at school but all shops were still open), post was closed. Still not being quite ready to cough up €30 for the privilege, it was time to do something fun instead.

We got a vaporetto across the Giudecca Canal to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Still a little foggy and plenty cold, we had determined to spend the day ticking off a few remaining sights and spectacles we had still to see. In the church of San Giorgio Maggiore there's a notoriously dysfunctional biennale installation by Anish Kapoor. We had been to see it months ago but it wasn't working at all, having since heard that it had a temperamental disposition and sometimes worked and often didn't, we wanted to give it another chance.

San Giorgio Maggiore.
Usually home to a few significant Tintoretto's, currently on display in the Giardini.

Anish Kapoor, Ascension.

We lucked in. As we walked into the church, the smoke twisted around itself and spiralled up to the high central dome. As we sat and watched the smoke would disappear, re-emerge, swirl around the high platform in the centre of the church, and gradually ascend twisting and turning untill it formed a perfect swirling column and was sucked out the vent at the top. Four high banks of fans push the air in a circle, causing the smoke to form the tornado (or water spout) -like column. Rising up in the centre of the huge church it is quite spectacular. Then it was lunchtime and we were asked to leave so they could close for the afternoon.

We took a vaporetto across the gap to Giudecca and visited the Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore, the church of the most holy redeemer. We had been in briefly during the Redentore festa, but then we just stood in a corner at the back gawking at the ceremony. Now we have a ticket that get's us into 17 churches in Venice (otherwise they cost about €3 per visit) so we're seeing them all. (I don't think I mentioned it before - last Monday we visited 7 churches, with a break for delicious homely lunch at dalla Marisa. It felt like quite a feat. I also don't think I mentioned that on the map we were given with the church tickets we counted 100 churches in Venice, so 17 ended up feeling like very few. In the end I think we will probably have visited somewhere in the vicinity of 25. That's quite a lot of nice floor patterns to draw.)

From Redentore we walked along Giudecca to a place recommended for lunch. It was warm and friendly and yummy to boot. Just as we were leaving, the fog lifted and the sun shone down brightly lighting Venice up all aglow. I decided then that we had better head back to San Giorgio, as I really wanted to go up the bell tower to get my one and only long view of Venice, and the light was really amazing. As we walked back towards the vaporetto stop the bells of Santa Maria della Salute began to chime in a long and lively tolling. Time for another mass.

By the time we were back on San Giorgio though, the beautiful light had been replaced by thick grey cloud. I was determined to go up the tower nonetheless, but Finn opted to wait it out with Anish, having already been disappointed by a visit up the San Marco bell tower. Hard to please some people some days... Well it may have been cloudy, but I saw plenty, all lovely and soft around the edges.

I saw how the priests keep themselves entertained in their down time.

And out to some distant misty lands.

Across the church complex to Giudecaa.

Across the Giudecca canal to Punta della Dogana and Salute.

The central dome.
That's AK's extractor system coming out the side there.

Palazzo Ducale and the San Marco bell tower with a glimpse of the basilica domes behind. 

Today it's perfectly sunny and clear again and I want to go back up. We'll just have to see how we get on with the few free days we have next week before we leave for good. If it's foggy again I'd also quite like to take another trip through the lagoon back to Torcello.

Anyway, after that detour (which re-routed us from visiting another one of the churches on our ticket), it was finally time to head over and see what was happening at Salute.

Santa Maria della Salute.
Viewed from the temporary bridge.

The funny (strange) thing about the Salute bridge was that it went from one little back alley across the Grand Canal to an even smaller back alley, not especially close to the church at all. From the end of the bridge there was a complete jam of people trying to get through the narrow lanes between there and the church. The open area outside the church was less jammed, but still crowded with people buying long white candles from the ring of stalls - all very similar to what we saw at San Antonio in Padova.

The church was in full regalia for the festa. Brightly lit and draped with finery inside, it was even a little warm.

We joined the throngs and headed inside. The whole church was completely packed with people. There were a couple of competing masses taking place, one at the main alter and another at one of the smaller side chapels. It was Finn's first time inside, but really not optimum floor-viewing circumstances.

The central dome of Salute on an empty day, looking towards the main alter.

A section of the central floor mosaic.

We went with the flow of the crowd and were pushed through an opening behind the main alter to a well frescoed antechamber and from there to a big back room lined with tables selling church trinkets. After making our way through the church complex and being spat out back where we had begun the pilgrimage, it was time to find the famed Salute doughnuts.

This is where the party's at.

The crowds exiting Salute were making on obvious beeline around the side to a different calle to the one we arrived along. At the top of the bridge to get there, it was abundantly clear why. This is where you come for the post penance party.

So many delicious treats to choose from - caramel nuts, toffee apples (and toffee all other kinds of fruits - the figs looked amazing), and doughnuts hot out of the oil.

Happy doughnut man.

Finn got a fresh hot doughnut filled to bursting with nutella. Wo. Happy man. I got a scoop of freshly roasted caramelised almonds - scrummylicious. The freezing festive market atmosphere - and the nuts particularly - reminded me of the Christmas markets we visited in Germany with Anna six years ago. Now I'm looking forward to experiencing Italy's equivalent in every stop as we head towards Rome. Winter ain't bad at all when there are caramel nuts and mulled wine on offer.

24 November 2011