Here we are on the Zattere, where long rafts – or zattere – would come to deposit huge loads of salt which would then be stored in the Magazzini del Sale, the immense salt warehouses a bit further along the waterfront, a testament of Venice’s successful reliance on its natural resources. Now you will find the church of the Gesuati, built in the 18th century and so rather modern compared to most buildings; it faces the Giudecca Canal, almost in an act of defiance to the Redentore Church on the Giudecca, the stretch of land on the other side. It is on the day of the Redentore, a religious festivity held in July in honour of the end of the plague in the 16th century, that a bridge connects the Zattere to the Giudecca; public boats stop running and the whole canal is carpeted with boats, canoes and yachts where people eat, drink and dance to music before enjoying the midnight fireworks. Truly a unique, wholly Venetian, experience.
