Feast of Redeemer - Venice
 

Has anyone ever been in Venice during the Feast of the Redeemer (Festa Redentore). We are planning our trip to Italy and are wondering if we should definitely be in Venice on that Saturday/Sunday

I like the Festa del Redentore much, but you have to prepare your participation carefully. It's all about sitting the whole evening on the waterfronts of Canale della Giudecca, picknicking, and waiting for the grand (and truly great) midnight fireworks. BUT: there's no catering service whatsoever, no restaurants around, few bars - you have to bring your own food and drinks; and there is also nowhere to sit down, so if you don't want to end up standing for at least four hours (if you'd come later, there wouldn't be the slightest gap left for you to admire the fireworks!), you have to bring your own folding chairs, or at least blankets to spread out on the floor.
Which means that you have to either rent an apartment that's equipped with the things you need; or, if you prefer a hotel, you need to clarify before booking that they will be able (and willing) to supply the necessary folding chairs. Otherwise, you're NOT going to enjoy it!
If you go: the best position (both fireworks-wise and crowd-wise) is on the Giudecca side of the canal, near the church of Le Zitelle.

franco - Thank you so much for your quick reply - Based on your comment we booked a hotel. Supposedly we have a balcony off of our room that has chairs and overlooks a canal, just not sure if it is in the right location to see the fireworks, so I will check with them. Main question now is we have the room rented for Friday and Saturday night - leaving for Milan on Sunday. is the majority of the festivities over by Sunday late afternoon, I believe the fireworks are on Saturday night, or do we need to stay over Sunday. Thank You

This post has very good timing for us as we are also planning on staying in Venice that weekend and heading to Milan on Sunday afternoon.

It is good to know what to expect, thank you Franco.

Franco, do you think that fvill223 or we will have difficulty finding places to dine on the Friday evening, or just the Saturday evening? We were hoping to dine at Vini da Gigio again on this visit.

Many thanks.

fvill, that's perhaps a misunderstanding. What you need is not just a hotel with a balcony overlooking "a" canal - it must overlook the Canale della Giudecca. Canals are everywhere in Venice, and "your" canal might be miles from the fireworks, and you would overlook a canal, but not even notice there are fireworks. Further, part of the fun is the huge crowd picknicking in public, so sitting on your balcony would be only half of the fun even if you could see the fireworks from there (unless it were really on Canale della Giudecca, and you had the merry crowd immediately below your balcony). So quite probably, the question is not whether the balcony is overlooking a canal, but whether the hotel will allow you to take the folding chairs out and carry them across town to Canale della Giudecca. (Since many hotels will NOT allow that, booking an apartment will usually be wiser - where, as long as the folding chairs are back on the balcony when you leave, nobody even has the possibility to check what you've been doing with them in the meantime.)
The fireworks are on Saturday evening (11.30 pm, as far as I recall); on Sunday, the feast is continuing for the religious ones only (with church services and a procession and so on), but the popular and funny part is on Saturday.

Tim and Liz, you won't have difficulty to dine at a restaurant, neither Friday nor Saturday; the Festa is affecting really just the Canale della Giudecca and immediate surroundings, Vini da Gigio (good choice) of course being on the other end of town. Ok, maybe there is one restaurant or the other that's closing because the staff want to participate in the Festa (which is VERY popular in Venice, and definitely for the locals and not aimed at tourists). But that should be easy to check ahead, even already now, by simpling calling Vini da Gigio by phone.