

simonetta viterbi
On the first Sunday of September, residents of Venice flood to La Serenissima to witness the "Regata Storica". Before the big regatta, there is a pageant of historical 16th-century style gondolas, with all of their rowers dressed in historical garb, ferrying the high officials of Venice to the finish line so they can watch the race. After the pageant, there are four separate gondola races in which the rowers use all of their strength to get their boats down the Grand Canal.