Venetian Rituals: La Festa della Madonna della Salute

All photos taken 20 & 21 November 2024

I’m a big fan of a votive bridge. The last time I was in Venice was for the Festa del Redentore in July which my pal Gillian insisted was not to be missed. She was right. It was wonderful: masses of midnight fireworks on a steamy July evening and the Bacino di San Marco teemed with boats of all sizes. My newsletter about it is here (no paywall, lots of photos).

Santa Maria della Salute

Just as the Feast of the Holy Redeemer aka la notte famosissima celebrates the liberation of La Serenissima from the plague, so too does the rather more sombre November celebrations dedicated to the Madonna della Salute. In 1630 the bubonic plague was running rife through northern Italy, an outbreak sometimes called the peste manzoniana in reference to Alessandro Manzoni’s novel I Promessi Sposi set in its midst. Mantua was among a panoply of cities broken by disease and ambassadors were sent to Venice from their plague-ridden city in a desperate bid for aid to feed starving survivors.

This year’s temporary votive bridge across the Grand Canal

On arrival the ambassadors were isolated in quarantine on the uninhabited island of San Servolo to protect Venice against contagion. They came into contact with a carpenter sent to prepare their lodgings. He returned to San Lio in the sestiere of Castello, fell ill, and soon he and his family were dead and the contagion ripped, uncontrollably, through Venice and her territories.

The icon of the Madonna della Salute, dressed up for her festa