Row Your Boat!
An Aquatic Extravaganza at Venice's Regata Storica

Regattas are held annually worldwide, but few capture the imagination like Venice's Regata Storica. The event takes place on the first Sunday in September on the Grand Canal and comprises two components: the historical water pageant, followed by the boat races.

The former sees gondoliers ferrying Venetians dressed as 16th-century nobility along the canal. The pageant commemorates the ceding of Cyprus to Venice by Queen Catherine Cornaro in 1489. Before the races get underway, a fleet of boats known as bissone take to the water. In the past, these vessels carried soldiers armed with bows, arrows and slingshots to fire at unruly spectators. Present-day visitors needn't worry though, as these days the weapons are replicas, and the bissone merely announce the start of the races. The races themselves feature competitions for young rowers, female rowers, and boats with two oars and six oars.

Although the regatta dates back to the 13th century, the modern spectacle began in 1841. Venice — then under Austrian rule — asked Austrian authorities to stage a race to celebrate the gondoliers' skills. The course has several markers. The spagheto is a rope designating the start, the paleto refers to the turnaround point, at which the winners usually take the lead, and the machina is a floating stage, which marks the finish line. Access to the stage is reserved mainly for local authorities, but you can still get an amazing view of the finish line from nearby platforms.

If you find yourself in Italy in early September, don't miss this centuries-old display of Venetian pride.

華麗水世界──威尼斯賽船節

每年世界各地都會舉辦賽船大會，卻鮮少能像威尼斯的「賽船節」這般引人入勝。這項活動於九月的第一個星期日在大運河上舉辦，包含兩個部分：具歷史意義的水上盛裝遊行和接續的賽船大會。
前項活動可看到船夫載著打扮成十六世紀貴族的威尼斯人，順著運河擺渡而下。這個盛裝遊行是為了紀念凱瑟琳•科納羅皇后於 1489 年將賽普勒斯割讓給威尼斯。比賽開始前，會有一批名為 bissone 的船隊下水航行。過去，這些船隻載著裝配弓箭和彈弓的士兵，他們會朝不守規矩的觀眾射去。不過現代的遊客毋須擔心，因為現今這些武器都是仿製品，且 bissone 的用意只是要宣布比賽的開始。賽船本身分為青年組、女子組以及兩槳船組和六槳船組。
雖然賽船節可追溯至十三世紀，但現今的壯觀場面卻始於 1841 年。當時受奧地利統治的威尼斯，要求當局籌畫可宣揚船夫技術的比賽。航行的路線上有幾個標記點：spagheto 是標示起點的繩子，paleto 指折返點，冠軍隊伍通常會在此取得領先，而標記著終點線的 machina 則是漂浮的看台。前往看台的通路主要保留給當地官員，但你仍然可以從附近的平台取得絕佳視野。
如果你九月初正好在義大利，別錯過了這個數百年來展示著威尼斯驕傲的慶典。