The traditional appointment with the Historical Regatta is approaching, and anticipation for the sporting competition between Venetian rowing athletes is growing. This year, the event will take place on Sunday, the 4th of September. In addition to the spectacular historical procession with gondoliers and costumed figurants, which fills the Grand Canal with colour as dozens of traditionally decorated boats parade past, the Historical Regatta is also the highlight of the annual calendar of Venetian-style rowing competitions, a discipline that has been practised only in the lagoon of Venice for thousands of years.

This is an opportunity of great visibility for local athletes, both established champions and new recruits competing for the first time in such a scenic and prestigious setting, wishing to be the champions of tomorrow. Repeated annually, this ritual reinforces the age-old relationship between the city and water.

Broadcasted live on TV on RAI 2 from 5.35 pm and Radio Venezia FM 92.4 – 103.5 from 3.45 pm, Sunday’s event will turn the spotlight on the Grand Canal, Venice’s main waterway, first with the historical procession from 4.00 pm, and then, from 4.30 pm, with the competitions in the various categories, from the very young to the oar champions.

First to start are the “Maciarele and Schie” regattas on two-oared mascarete. The categories are as follows: Maciarele Senior (up to 14 years), Schie (up to 10 years) and Maciarele Junior (up to 12 years). At 4.50 pm it will be the turn of the “Giovanissimi su Pupparini a due remi” regatta, whereas at 5.10 pm the protagonists will be the six-oared caorline, followed at 5.40 pm by the “Donne su Mascarete a due remi”, which will ignite the public’s enthusiasm for a competition that is always hard-fought, as will the final regatta, that of the “Gondolini a due remi“, at 6.10 pm, the fiercest of the entire event.

Furthermore, as a side event, there will be the “International University Rowing Challenge” on eight-oared ships that will see the galleon of the two Venetian universities – Ca’ Foscari and Iuav – compete with the universities of Harvard, Vienna and Warwick.

As is well-known, the Historical Regatta commemorates the welcome given in 1489 to Caterina Cornaro, wife of the King of Cyprus, when she renounced her throne in favour of Venice. Dozens of typical sixteenth-century boats, with many colours and gondoliers in costume, will parade from St. Mark’s Basin along the Grand Canal, carrying the Doge and Dogaressa Caterina Cornaro, played by the “Mary of Carnival 2022” Alice Bars, together with all the highest offices of the Venetian Magistracy, in a faithful reconstruction of the glorious past of one of the most powerful and influential Maritime Republics in the Mediterranean.

The earliest records of the Regatta date back to the 13th century and are linked to the ‘Festa delle Marie’, when the Doge annually chose twelve beautiful and humble Venetian maidens, providing them with jewels as dowry for marriage. However, it is likely to have even older origins, given Venice’s close ties with the sea and the need to train crews to row.

The first image of the Regatta, however, is more recent: as a matter of fact, it appears in Jacopo de’ Barbari’s Pianta di Venezia of the 16th century. From then on, the Regatta would be one of the landscape painters’ favourite themes when representing Venice.

opening the historical procession the parade of the bissone, the traditional boats once used for hunting in the lagoon. Created in ancient times also to cope with and contain riots, today these boats represent the most exciting moment of the reenactment, parading with eight rowers on board.

The bissone are joined by two other boats, characterised by a different type of construction: the Serenissima, seventeen metres long, with a keeled bottom rather than a flat one and propelled by eighteen rowers, and the Dogaressa, a unique gondola with four oars, richly decorated and larger than traditional gondolas. Accompanying the historical procession is also the sports parade of the Venetian rowing associations with their ‘flagships’, comprising some 63 boats with a total of around 400 rowers.

However, the ones to compete in the race will be the traditional boats – called ‘Pupparin‘, ‘Mascareta‘, ‘Caorlina‘ and ‘Gondolino‘. Since 1892, they have been distinguished in the following colours: white, brown, pink, light blue, green, purple, canary yellow, red and orange. Their aim: to win the coveted prizes and the red flag for first place, white for second, green for third and blue for fourth.