Celebrated in Venice on the 21st November, the Festa della Madonna della Salute is an unique and extraordinary blend of the sacred and profane, of local and institutional tradition. Establisched by the Senate of the Venetian Republic in 1630 to clebrate virgin Mary's protection over the city during a terrible outbreak of the plague, today the celebration still brings thousands of inhabitants to the mgnificent Baroque Basilica by the architect Baldassarre Longhena.

The fascination of this autumn celebration is extraordinary, nearly always marked by fog or rain, and able to move and involve the rare tourists off-season in a pilgrimage that blocks the alleways and squares, amidst the whispers of prayers and the cries of confectioners selling their wares.