On Sunday, May 12th, with the Feast of the Sensa, the ancient rite of the Marriage of the Sea is renewed, through which Venice has been sealing its eternal love and dominion over the waters since the year 1000.
“Desponsamus te, mare, in signum veri perpetuique dominii”. In the year 1000, with these words aboard the majestic Bucintoro, Doge Pietro II Orseolo cast into the sea a golden ring similar to the one he wore on his finger, as a sign of eternal love and dominion of the city of Venice over the sea. This ancient formula – translated from Latin as “We marry you, sea, in the name of true and eternal domination” – encapsulates centuries of history, glory, and shared destiny between the city of waters and the sea that embraces it. Venice has always been shaped by the currents and waves of the sea, which have molded not only its physical landscape but also its cultural and political identity. What binds Venice to the sea is not just an economic bond but also an emotional, almost mystical one, and the Feast of the Sensa (celebrated on the day of Christ’s Ascension) has been – and still is – the highest expression of this relationship.
The initial purpose of the rite was mostly celebratory, religious, and superstitious at the same time, to commemorate the naval victory of the Venetians against the Slavs threatening the coasts of Dalmatia, an event that allowed Venice to project and establish itself as a maritime power in the Adriatic. Later, the Sensa also became the stage for the historic reconciliation between the Papacy and the Empire in 1177, thanks to the skillful diplomacy of Doge Sebastiano Ziani. It was Doge Ziani to whom Pope Alexander III gave the blessed ring that would later be cast into the sea, in the ritual known as the “Marriage of the Sea,” symbolizing the union in ‘marriage’ between husband and wife, the Adriatic and the Serenissima, between sacred and profane. Even today, thanks to the commitment of the Feast of the Sensa Committee, this ancient tradition is perpetuated every year, this year on May 12th, with an official water procession in the presence of city authorities, foremost among them the Patriarch and the Mayor, guests aboard the glorious Bucintoro followed by ancient and traditional rowing boats, which from San Marco to the Lido brings back to life the festival of a bygone era to celebrate the identity of Venice and its deep bond with the sea.”
