Regatta of the Befane in Venice

On January 6th, the day of the Epiphany, a special regatta takes place in Venice. It is organized by the oldest rowing boat association in the city called Bucintoro. Fifty men take part in this competition, and dress up as Befane.

The Befana is the granny who travels on a broom on January 6th to reach the children and bring them presents, especially sweets and toys. She is an old woman, who wears a handkerchief around her face, has a pointed nose and chin.

Wearing these robes, the rowers look very clumsy, they row on a very short path of the Grand Canal that goes from San Tomà to Rialto.

The first regatta was born in 1978 owing its origins to Nino Bianchetto and Enzo Bianchini, who were members of the Bucintoro rowing association.

During a dinner organized for the Bucintoro members in view of the Christmas holidays, they talked about their rowing skills and decided to compete against each other to prove who was the best, on the 6th of January, the day of the Befana.

During that dinner they wrote the rules of the regatta on a paper napkin, and it was understood that the outfit would have been that of the old woman.

From that year on, the Epiphany in Venice is celebrated with the parade of the Befane, rowing typical Venetian boats, the mascarete, flat-bottom boats.

Mazzorbo island: St. Catherine’s church

Mazzorbo and Burano

Mazzorbo island is very often considered as part of the more famous island of Burano. Inhabited by a few people, not more than 300, it preserves its history in a small strip of land.

Saint Catherine’s church

In such a small space there were once several churches, but today the only one still intact is that of Saint Catherine.

The church is an authentic jewel of the Venetian lagoon, founded in the 8th century and rebuilt later in the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th, it had a monastery of Benedictine nuns next to it.

Bas-relief on the doorway

The bas-relief of the church portal is fascinating: it represents the mystical wedding of Saint Catherine. On the lunette there are 4 statues: two big ones and two small ones: Jesus, Saint Catherine and the donors.

Jesus is seated on the throne with the book open on the following words “EGO SUM LUX MUNDI” that is “I am the light of the world”. On both sides of his head there are two angels.

Saint Catherine is wearing a crown and is receiving the ring that Jesus slips on her finger. In between them there are the abbess of the convent, Elisabetta Dolfin, and on the right side of Jesus the monastery Procurator, whose name is unknown.

The interior of the church

The interior preserves its original structure with a few frescoes and baroque altars. On the counterfaçade there is the suspended barco in wood, where the nuns once attended mass.

Due to its peculiar shape it is often chosen for weddings by locals or even foreign people.

“Grotesque Renaissance”: the disquieting masks of Venice

Bell towers, churches and palaces feature scary-looking masks. What did they mean? In which context did they stand?

The term already appears to be derogatory but the gargoyles represented distorted and ugly human heads of men and women with grotesque features. Their primary function was to drive away evil spirits from the place where they were posted.

Mascherone di Santa Maria Formosa

John Ruskin described this mask in his “Stones of Venice” emphasizing above all its deformity.

“A head, – huge, inhuman, and monstrous, – leering in bestial degradation, too foul to be either pictured or described, or to be beheld for more than an instant, yet let it be endured for that instant; for in that head is embodied the type of evil spirit to which Venice was abandoned in the fourth period of her decline; and it is well that we should see and feel the full horror of it on this spot, and know what pestilence it was that came and breathed upon her beauty, until it melted away like the white cloud from the ancient fields of Santa Maria Formosa”.

Palazzo Labia

If for John Ruskin the mask defined the grotesque typical of the Baroque, for others they were clear examples of indecipherable wit and mystery.

The references to theater and plays are evident and their meaning smacks of demonic.

From the second half of 1500 they are scattered everywhere, along theGrand Canal, the palace of Ca’ Pesaro and the church of the Ospedalettoare some other clear examples of this attitude.

Palace in Campiello Querini

They are also an architectural and sculptural triumph masked under anunclear fate that replaced the representation of the devil, who in the MiddleAges stood for evil. Created by specialized craftsmen, they are noticeablebecause of the animal ears, goats’ beards, or open mouths.