Saint Mark's Day — Festa del Bòcolo (Venice)
25 April 2026 — One red rosebud for your beloved – One red rosebud for your beloved – happy Rosebud Festival in Venice!
On 25 April the Catholic Church honours Saint Mark the Evangelist, and in Venice the day is also a city holiday, because he is the patron saint of the city. His emblem is the winged lion, seen on banners, buildings and columns all over Venice. According to tradition, Mark's relics were brought to Venice in 828; a church was built to house them, and the present St Mark's Basilica rose on its site in the 11th century.
On the same day Venetians celebrate the Festa del Bòcolo (in the Venetian dialect, “bòcolo” means rosebud). By long-standing custom, men give their sweetheart, or a close woman in the family, a red rosebud that has not yet opened. A legend about a man in love is often told, but it is folk tradition rather than confirmed history.
The city festival and the rosebud custom always fall on 25 April; only in the rare years when the date coincides with Holy Week or Easter Week is the Church feast of the saint moved by a few days. The festival falls in spring, when roses begin to bud, which is why the bud makes such a fitting gift.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure of a gondolier made of bright dots and fine lines like a constellation, gliding across the night sky and holding out a single glowing rosebud
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