Below are some of the recurrent feasts and celebrations in Venice from the calendar of the Republic of Venice. The year in parentheses indicate when the tradition started.
The list starts in March, because that was the start of the Venetian year — More Veneto.
March
- March 1st — Venetian New Year
- March 25th — The Feast for the Foundation of Venice (421).
Relative to Easter
- Fat Thursday — The Patriarch of Aquileia sent a bull and twelve pigs to Venice for a popular feast, as perpetual punishment after having attacked Grado (1162)
- Palm Sunday — Public feeding of the Pigeons (877)
- Easter Sunday — Ritual Visit of the Doge to the Monastery of San Zaccaria (855).
- Second Sunday — The Feast of the day of the Holy Apostles when the Doge visited the Church of San Giminiano in Piazza San Marco (c.1172).
- Ascension Day — Festa della Sensa and the Marriage to the Sea (997).
- Ascension Day — The Mercato della Sensa — popular feast associated with the public event above.
- Sunday after Ascension Day — The Public Banquet for the Povegliotti at the Palazzo Ducale.
- Sixty days after Easter — The Feast of Corpus Domini, with a procession in Piazza San Marco, mass in the church of Corpus Domini, and a fresco of gondolas on the Grand Canal (1295).
April
- April 3rd — The Feast of Santa Maria della Carità.
- April 16th — The Feast of San Isidoro at the return to Venice of Doge Domenico Michiel (1125).
- April 25th — The Banquet of San Marco.
May
- May 1st — Visit of the Doge to the Monastery of the Virgins (1176).
June
- June 4th — The Feast for the re-conquest of Candia (Crete) (1361).
- June 15th — The Festa di San Vito celebrating the defeat of the Bajamonte-Tiepolo conspiracy, with a visit of the Doge to the Church of San Vito (1310).
- June 15th — The Banquet of San Vito.
- June 26th — The Feast for the at the Dardanels, with a visit of the Doge to the Basilica dei SS Giovanni e Paolo, on whose day the battle was fought (1656).
- June 29th — The Feast for the Victory over the Hungarian Tartars (899).
- June 30th — Celebration of the recovery of Chioggia from the Genovese in 1380, on the day of St Martial (1380).
July
- July 17th — The Feast for the Triumph over the League of Cambrai, on the day of Santa Maria, commemorating the re-taking of Padova in 1509, with a visit of the Doge to the church of Santa Marina (1512).
- July 19th — The Festa di Santa Marta, popular feast often celebrated in boats, related to the sole fishing season.
- Third Sunday of July — The Festa del Redentore in celebration of the end of the plague epidemic of 1575-77, with a visit by the Doge to the Redentore church on the Giudecca (1577).
August
- August 16th — The Feast of San Rocco, commemorating the pestilence of 1575-77, with a visit by the Doge to the church of San Rocco (1576).
- August 29th — The Feast for the beheaded St John the Baptist, with a visit of the Doge to the church of San Zan Degolà in celebration of the victory over Genoa at Negroponte (1358).
September
- September 30th — Election of new magistrates, among other the Council of Ten, with all the ceremonial of state, on the day of San Girolamo — St Jerome.
- September 30th — the Banquet of San Girolamo.
October
- October 7th — The Feast for the Victory at the Curzolari (Lepanto) in 1571, with a visit by the Doge to the church of Santa Giustina (1571).
November
- November 21st — The Festa della Madonna della Salute commemorating the end of the pestilence of 1630-31, with a visit by the Doge to the Basilica della Salute (1631).
- November 25th — The Serrata del Consiglio Maggiore (1297).
- November 25th — The Festa di Santa Caterina with a visit of the Doge to the Monastery of Santa Caterina, instituted by Doge Pietro Gradenigo (1307).
- November 25th — La festa dei Dotti when the University of Padova and all other schools and educational institutions opened to the public.
December
- December 6th — The Feast for the Conquest of Constantinople, with a visit of the Doge and the Signoria to the church of San Nicolò dei Marinai a Castello (1204).
- December 26th — The Feast of Santo Stefano and the visit of the Doge to San Giorgio Maggiore (1009).
- December 26th — The Banquet of Santo Stefano.
January
- January 17th — The Feast of the Liberation of Scutari (in Albania) from the Turkish siege in 1474, with a visit by the Doge to the church of Sant’Antonio Abate in Castello (1475).
- January 31st — The feast of the Translation of the Body of St Mark to Venice (829)
February
- February 2nd — Festa delle Marie (c.940s)
- February 2nd — The Doge visited Santa Maria Formosa and the guild of the cassellari.
- February 14th — The Feast for the first possessions on the Mainland celebrating the creation of the Dominio di Terra with the conquest of Treviso and the the Marca Trevigiana (1339).
Uncertain date
- The Feast for the Victory over Padova after the War of the Castle of Love (1214-1215).
The painting at the top of this page depicts La Festa di Santa Marta on June 19th — painting by Gaspare Diziani (c.1750).
Bibliography
Renier Michiel, Giustina. Origine delle feste veneziane di Giustina Renier Michiel Volume primo [-sesto]. Editori degli Annali universali delle scienze e dell’industria, 1829.
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