The Feast of Redentore celebrates, every year, the end of the plague epidemic, which struck between 1575 and 1577 most of Europe and Venice in particular, where on an estimated population of about 180,000 inhabitants died more than 50,000.
Doge and Signoria reached the church, on the solemn celebrations of the third Sunday of July, crossing the votive bridge that joined the bank of Zattere with that of Giudecca, in front of the Church of Redentore
Initially the votive bridge was built alongside 80 galleys, but it soon passed to more economical and practical rafts. Starting from the years ‘ 50 of the twentieth century, the votive bridge was assembled by the Italian military genius as an exercise exploiting a Bailey Bridge of English origin (made with modular elements of iron and wood) abandoned by the Allies at the end of the second World War, until in 2002 it was replaced by a more modern modular floating bridge.
The votive Bridge of the Redeemer is the oldest and in 400 years things have changed and the bridge was built with more and more modern systems. Today it is built with a modular system that constitutes a “bridge of boats” configuration. The base modules and the access walkways, thanks to their modularity, ensure a flexibility of use that makes them usable for other events.
The crossing has a total development of 333.6 M. The usable width is 3.6 m. The Central gate (high 4.2 m) allows the transit of the boats, the illumination of the bridge is ensured by lamps housed under the handrail, while the signalling lights are arranged in correspondence with the gates.