This just in: The bridge is already under construction, and I’m sure the fireworks are already on the way, but like a launch at Cape Canaveral, mayor Luigi Brugnaro has scrubbed the mission.
This year, there will be no fireworks for the Redentore (July 19). No fireworks, no party boats, no “notte famosissima.” It’s a blow, but there were already signs that caution was going to rule, beginning with the new regulation that spaces along the fondamente were going to be assigned only by booking. But in the end, it was obvious that safe social distancing was going to be impossible to plan, much less maintain, on water or on land.
Here is the mayor’s announcement (translated by me):
“I do not have good news. I have been awake all night, but unfortunately I’m forced to tell you that we are annulling the fireworks for the Redentore. I can’t bring myself to make it work, I have tried everything. In conscience I just don’t feel like it, for me it’s the most beautiful festa of the year. We set up an incredible system for booking for the boats, we even invented a series of plans for limiting the flow. It’s my decision, I take responsibility for it, but I cannot bring the city to risk it. This is a safe city.”
No news at this moment as to whether the races will be held on Sunday afternoon, or the mass.
9 Comments
Well, that’s just sad, if prudent. Our local summer festa, the (dare I use the word) iconic Fourth of July fireworks display along the East River in New York City was also canceled because of the enormous crowds it draws. No way to stay six feet apart on the riverbank, even if you’d want to. So the city, with its usual talent for whimsy, substituted minutes-long pop-up fireworks shows all over the place, from the Empire State Building to the Statue of Liberty. Locations were announced — I have no idea where, maybe on Twitter — five minutes before blast-off to avoid thundering hordes of fireworks fans. So nobody got to see much of anything (I accidentally spotted the end of a display in Central Park from my terrace.) But everybody got to hear the endless booms and whistles from amateur pyrotechnicians in backyards and on street corners all over the city. They went for days and, mostly, nights. It was definitely a DIY Fourth. Hope Redentore is as festive as it can be under the circumstances.
I’m going to be curious to see how it turns out. The bridge will be open (they’re building it now, of course), and the mass will be held, and the fondamente along the Giudecca Canal will be strung with lights. I read something about music. Anyway, we’ll see, even though yes, we’ll miss the crash-banging at midnight.
I heard “they” have been testing the “MOSE” thingy – perhaps that’s where all the fireworks are?
Seriously, so sad, but understandable. Next year? And let’s look for happier times to come.
I think that one can’t overdo prudence at this point. The last thing anybody wants is to face another shutdown!
Thanks Erla. That festive and colorful Venice is shut down in this way is very sad indeed.
However once it is back in action in some way, I hope to get there with my tourist dollars. 😇
I can tell you that we’ll be here with our arms open, even if you don’t bring dollars. Though of course, they’ll be very welcome….
Well, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy to be responsible for maintaining social distancing on the Fondamente during Redentore and the fireworks so the decision was probably wise enough but it’s sad all the same. Everyone, and their dogs, seem seem to be eager to party again and I can’t blame them after being quarantined for so long but still… Now is not the time for large groups of people however good the cause may be and however much we might want things to be as they were, before.
Stay safe, my dear friends!
/Andreas
We’ve made our peace with it. We have to remember that people come from all over everywhere for the fireworks — Padova, Chioggia, Punta Sabbioni, and points in between and beyond. You can’t check everybody’s temperature, or deal with however many people come up short. Here’s what’s really sad: People not wearing masks, or wearing them on their chins or barely over their mouths.
We’ve the same problem with mask-wearing in England. We are simply not used to it, and when we’ve encountered it in other countries, have seen it as rather an affectation – now it’s come home to bite us!! So many, as you say, simply don’t seem to have got the point – over MOUTH and NOSE