By the Serenissima Republic time the feast of Sensa is one of the most important events taking place in Venice.
It is a religious festival, connected to the day of Christ’s ascension to heaven (the seventh Sunday after Easter), on this day, we celebrate the marriage of Venice to the sea. The first to inaugurate the tradition was the Doge Pietro Orsoleo around the year 1000.
The event includes that, even today, the Patriarch of Venice and city authorities on board the Bucintoro (the famous Venetian ship) from the pier of San Marco, and to be directed to the church of San Nicolò on the Lido where, joined the procession, they throw at sea a laurel wreath and a ring reciting the words “we get married you, oh sea, effectively and perpetual dominion sign”.
