What if you saw thousands of people running up and down the bridges all over Venice? Don’t worry, it’s not an hallucination! It’s “Su e Zo per i Ponti”, an t

raditional race taking place each year and involving young people, adults, families, school parties and sport groups in an amazing walk through the Venice calli (alleys).

This year the event takes place on Sunday 10th of April at 10 am, starting from Piazza San Marco (corner of Palazzo Ducale)…13 km of track, crossing 53 bridges, that circles all the island to arrive again in Piazza San Marco.

More than 600 volunteers will be there working at the refreshment points and along the race route itself to make sure everything is fine…and of course to slake your thirst!

At 12.30 don’t miss the Folk groups parade in Piazza San Marco that will entertain the runners and the visitors with artistic and musical exhibitions.

This peculiar walk is a funny way to discover Venice and its soul and to have great time celebrating an important festival!

How to get to Piazza San Marco from the Hotel Sant’Elena:

By foot: about 25 minutes along Rive dei Sette Martiri
By vaporetto boat: take the n° 1 to Piazzale Roma and you’ll reach San Marco in two stops

Map with the itinerary

Venice is the best city in the world, some say. But do kids like it?

Walking the whole day in the hot sun tires both parents and children. And yet, for those who are able to find the right way, this city has plenty of stories to tell - stories that seem to have been written precisely for kids. That’s how your visit to Venice can turn itself into an exciting game.

Leave the Best Western Hotel Sant’Elena in the morning and make for Piazza San Marco (if you take the Vaporetto it’ll take you 5 mis only). From the square look up at the clock tower. What are those two statues doing up there in the flat roof? Are they striking the right hours? Not at all: the Moor on the right, facing the future, strikes the bell two minutes in advance; the Moor on the left, looking at the past, strikes the bell two minutes after. Does it sound strange? Why not going upstairs and seeing it yourself? If you’re at least 6 years old and don’t fear taking the stairs to the fifth floor, hurry up!

If you make your way through the “Riva degli Schiavoni” towards the Arsenale, your long walk will be repaid by the Venice Naval History Museum (open till 13.30). Cannons of the XIV century, torpedos of the World War two and old boats reconstructions will drive your imagination and take you far away, dreaming to be somewhere in the sea. Or maybe you will dream to be on the Bucintoro, the queen of all boats, chosen by the Dogi of Venice as ceremony boat during the celebration of the Bridal of The Sea festivity.

How not to mention Murano, the well known isle of glass. A glass master at work is a great attraction for every child. The melting glass, blown as a soap bubble, transforms into a wonderful vase. Parents will find plenty of souvenirs and children will make an unforgettable experience (for more info on the furnaces opened to the public visit www.promovetro.com , phone: 0415275074).
Venice, of course, is also a city of art. But will art exhibitions and children ever meet together? At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, every Sunday afternoon at 15.00 the Kids day begins: a visit to the museum and a workshop organized exactly for children from 4 to 10 years old.

photo credit: rachdavies

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. The name Shrove comes from the old middle English word ‘Shriven’ meaning to go to confession to say sorry for the wrong things you’ve done. Lent always starts on a Wednesday, so people went to confessions on the day before. This became known as Shriven Tuesday and then Shrove Tuesday.

In other countries, like Italy, Shrove Tuesday is known as ‘Martedì Grasso’, This means ‘Fat Tuesday’ in Italian and also comes from the idea of using up food before Lent.

Many countries round the world have ‘Martedì Grasso’ celebrations and carnivals. Some of the most famous are in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, New Orleans in the U.S.A., and Venice in Italy.
One of the most exquisite, unique and typical  Venice Carnival specialty is the home made ‘frittella’ (‘fritoleri’ in Venetian dialect) that you can find in every coffee and pastry shops of the city. These ‘frittelle’are one of the symbol of the Venetian Carnival.
Here you have the traditional recipe to make your own traditional sweets…

Ingredients for 4 people:

12 g of beer yeast
200 g of flour
40 g of raisans
40 g of pinoli nuts
40 g di candied fruits
ca. 350 g of seed oil
40 g of sugar
16 g of icing sugar
ca. 0,5  of grappa or rum

Preparation:

Dissolve yeast with a little warm water and sugar.  Add grappa and then flour adding water when needed.  Mix well until there are no air bubbles on the surface.  Cover and leave to rise in a warm place.  When the mix has doubled in size, add raisans, candied fruits and pinoli.  Heat oil and cook draining each doughnut on paper towels.  Arrange in a pyramid form and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Serve hot and enjoy your “frittelle”.

The term “Acqua Alta” is commonly used in Venice for the exceptional tide peaks that occur periodically in the Venetian Lagoon. This unique and spectacular phenomenon occurs mainly between autumn and spring, when the astronomical tides are reinforced by the prevailing seasonal winds which hamper the usual reflux. The main winds involved are the scirocco, which blows northbound along the Adriatic Sea, and the bora, which has a specific local effect due to the shape and location of the Venetian lagoon.

The phenomenon largely depends on three main factors:
• an astronomical component, which results from the movement and alignment of celestial bodies, principally the Moon; this component is dependent upon the laws of the astronomical mechanics and can be accurately predicted for the long run;
• a geophysical component, primarily dependent upon the geometric shape of the basin, which amplifies or reduces the astronomical component and, because it is dependent upon the laws of the physical mechanics, can be also computed and accurately predicted for the long run;
• a meteorological component, linked to a large set of variables, such as the direction and strength of winds, the location of barometric pressure fields and their gradients, precipitation. This component can only be forecast for the very short run and is probably the principal determinant of acqua alta emergencies.

 
This “Acqua Alta” spreads particularly in the St. Mark’s basin and in the lower areas of the city next to the Grand Canal. Despite some diseases to the local population, it has become a significant attraction for tourists from all over the world who come to Venice. Anyway, if you decide to come to our Best Western Premier Hotel Sant’Elena, don’t worry, our hotel is in a quiet area, higher than the St. Mark’s basin and not interested by this unique and particular phenomenon.

A new and enthralling way to visit Venice and its treasures: what  you need is only a map, a “whaiwhai” notebook and a mobile. “Whaiwhai” is an interactive story and a particular hunt to Venice treasures, to discover the most original and exciting aspects of the city.

In order to participate to this adventure, it is necessary to buy a whaiwhai notebook on the website or in one of the bookshops of the city. Once you bought the notebook that contains the stories that will drive you in the several places of the research, just to start, it is sufficient to send a message to a mobile number you find in the notebook.

To read the several stories about Venice, you should obtain the codes that will be sent you by sms: only in this way you could reassemble the pages, read what is written and know some peculiarities of the city where the discover will continue.

In order to proceed with the research, you should solve some riddles, sending the solution by sms to the number you find in our notebook ( the cost of a sms is the cost fixed by your operator). The notebook contains lots of stories and it will permit to play with whaiwhai till three times and to do different journeys in every treasure hunt. We will wait for you in Venice to look for some clues and to discover new hidden places of this wonderful and unique city.

An italian scholar discovered that the origin of @, sign used in email communications, is Italian. It was invented by Italian merchants at least 500 years ago. The symbol  stands for “anphora”, which was aweight unit used by ancient Greeks and Romans. The “anphora” (@) is the misure of capacity based on terracotta jars used for transportation in the ancient Mediterranean world. For example Lapi wrote, describing the arrival in Sapin of three Ships bearing gold and silver from Latin America in that way: “Three an @ of wine, which is one thirtieth of a barrel, is worth 70 or 80 ducats”.

An interesting Quiz for you:
Do you know that “a piece” of Venice is present in every e mail Address?
Look at your complete e-mail address and post what do you think is the answer.
Try to find it!