Festa della Sensa (Venice)
17 May 2026 · movable holiday — I toss the ring into the waves, and Venice is wed to the sea once more!
The Festa della Sensa (from the Italian “Ascensione”, meaning Ascension) is an old Venetian celebration tied to the sea. According to tradition, the doge, the head of the Venetian Republic, sailed out on a ceremonial vessel and dropped a ring into the water, symbolically “wedding” the city to the sea. The rite expressed Venice’s dependence on the sea and its claim to the Adriatic. The celebration is linked with the time around the year 1000, while the ring ceremony is tied to a later period (by tradition around 1177), though the exact details need verification. The festival is tied to Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter (counting Easter itself), and today it is held on the Sunday after Ascension, and Easter itself follows a lunisolar rule: the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March (Gregorian calendar for Catholics). That is why the date of the Sensa moves from year to year. Today the city holds a procession of boats and a ceremonial ring-casting, with rowers from Venetian clubs taking part.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, forming a constellation of a ceremonial gilded galley with many oars with a curved prow that glides across the night sky
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