3-035-683 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Bucintoro Departing from the Bacino di San Marco, 1710. Additional Info: The Grand Canal is filled with a colourful array of boats getting ready to make their way out to sea. This is Ascension Day, when Venice celebrates her authority over the sea by conducting a symbolic marriage ceremony with the Adriatic Sea. In front of the Doge's palace, the Doge boards the magnificent two-storied Boat of the State called the Bucintoro, which will head a procession of other boats out to the Porto del Lido. On arrival, the Patriarch of Venice will bless the sea with holy water and the Doge will throw out a ring from a little door in the prow, saying, "In sign of eternal domination, we, the Doge of Venice, marry you, oh sea."