We will be arriving in Venice the Wednesday before the Ascension Day weekend celebration, flying back to the states that Sunday. I was wondering if anybody has been to Venice for that annual celebration? Normal shops and tours open, extra food booths, vendors set up around the city? Not sure what to expect at a Venice celebration compared to a US one. Any information would be appreciated. GO ITALY 2020!!!!
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2213 posts
We were there this past May on that weekend. The celebration takes place on the Lido. We did not choose to try to go over to the island because we couldn't get any clear information on whether the vaporetti would be running or not on the morning of the main event. We did go out to the end of Castello hoping to see the boats going by, and we did; however, we never did see the fancy Doge's boat that is mentioned in the publicity. Perhaps we were not there early enough. We saw one boat with several dignitaries in suits seated in chairs on the front of it and several other boats with 6 to 12 rowers in yellow or red shirts and white pants going by (between us and a ginormous cruise ship that was parked in the area), but we found it underwhelming, to say the least. Venice itself was affected not at all as far as we could tell. Hopefully, someone else can tell you whether it would be worth the trip over to the Lido to join the celebration there.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks for the info, we actually was more concerned that the main island would have more people than normal, sounds like most is on Lido.