Thursday, October 1, 2009

Regata Storica through the lens of Nereo Zane - 5

Here are a few more of Nereo Zane's photos from the parade portion of the 2009 Reegata Storica. The other day, Nereo e-mailed me a link to this terrific website, which describes the historic regata much better than I can:
http://www.veneziamarketingeventi.it/page/eventoDettaglio?idEvento=113



And just in case you missed it, yes, the Regata Storica has it's own Facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Venice-Italy/Regata-Storica-di-Venezia-Official-Page/123933183266?ref=search&sid=1321880344.452976226..1
Amazing. There's a Facebook page for everything these days. I'm thinkingg about launching a Facebook page for my car. I love my car, and I think my car deserves it's own page. I wonder how many friends it would get.


But again, I digress.

Red and gold abound in Venice, and especially when it comes to the pomp and circumstance of a procession afloat. But this greem one really catches my eye each time I see it.



We've all seen the winged Lion of St. Mark. He's usually holding a book which is open to display words in Latin.


But there's another version of this sacred icon of the Serene Republic: in times of war, that same lion is depicted holding a sword, which we see here:

6 comments:

Tamas Feher from Hungary said...

> But this green [bissona] really catches my eye each time I see it.

The guy in the stern, is he wearing a turban, maybe? If so, then it may be a historic re-enactment of the ottoman ambassadors's galley, green being the prophet's color.

> lion with book or sword

That habit is still preserved in the italian flags on sea. Warships have flags with a crest depicting a sword-bearing lion and italian merchant ships have crests with a reading lion.

The italian naval crest is a combination of the coat of arms for Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Venice city-states.

Gondola Greg said...

I think you may be on to something here Tamas.
I know that many of the boats in the procession are meant to portray vessels from other kingdoms.

Bob Easton said...

Thanks to you and Nereo for the great pictures! Very enjoyable!

About that lion... Travel around the Adriatic Sea and you'll see the lion and his book in many many places. Every place that Venice once ruled usually has the lion on some historic building.

The book is NOT always open. For places that welcomed Venetian rule, the book is open. For places that were conquered by force, the book is closed.

Keep an eye out for those lions and books.

Nereo Zane said...

Hi Bob thanx for the compliments about my phots. You're right about the Winged Lion and the sword: here is view of the Lion with the sword. It firmly holds the book closed with the left leg: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Flag_of_Republic_of_Venice.png

Greetings

Nereo said...

Sorry, the correct address is http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/

c/c7/Flag_of_Republic_of_Venice.png
(on the same row)

Gondola Greg said...

Awesome comment Bob!
I'll be looking.
Now if I can just find a good excuse to get back over there to look!