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Vogalonga

This boat race (scheduled on a Sunday in May) was born 30 years ago on an initiative of a group of Venetians who wanted to maintain the Voga (an all Venetian way of rowing in small boats with flat bottom) and the traditions of the "Serenissima" alive.

They also wanted to bring to attention to both Venetians and foreigners the problem of the damaging wave motion. The event grew bigger and bigger attracting more and more attention also from foreigners and now it is usual to count up to 1500 boats enrolled. From the morning the boats gather in the lagoon opposite Saint Mark Square facing the Doges palace; they all wait the start signal that will see them race for 30 kilometres down the Canals as long as the island of Burano in the northern lagoon to then re-enter into Venice via the Cannaregio Canal.

Over the years the event has represented an incentive for the seafaring societies to maintain an interest alive in the different rowing techniques and the manufacturing of new boats.

The Vogalonga, as a not competitive sport event, becomes also an opportunity to discover the lagoon, its habitat and breathtaking landscape.