Everything is ready for the 580th edition of the Marriage of the Sea, the party with which Cervia has renewed its connection with the Adriatic Sea for almost six centuries.
This year too, to open the celebrations, Friday 10 May at 9pm at the “Walter Chiari” municipal theater, the traditional one Concert of the Grande Orchestra Città di Cerviadirected by maestro Fulvio Penso.
For months the Orchestra has been warming up its engines to add impactful pieces to its program, both classic and modern, and thus present itself with a renewed program for the season which marks its 20th year of activity. The music will be that of Rodgers, Von Suppé, Grieg, J. Strauss Jr, Puccini, De Curtis, Di Capua and Berstein. The concert will see the extraordinary participation of the tenor Alessandro Moccia who will perform some of the most beautiful arias of bel canto opera.
The Grande Orchestra Città di Cervia is a group of over 45/50 musicians, professionals and non-professionals, orchestra professors and amateurs, united by a common passion for music and the desire to be together. Born within the G. Rossini Municipal School of Music with musicians mainly from Cervia, over the years the Orchestra has been enriched by the presence of musicians from conservatories and other musical institutions in Romagna and beyond and is widely followed in the city, protagonist of many prestigious city events such as the Concerts at dawn on the beach, the Concert at sunset in the salt pan and, indeed, the Concert for the Marriage of the Sea.
The program for the 2024 edition of the Marriage of the Sea will then continue sSaturday 11th and Sunday 12th Maydays during which history, culture, gastronomy and shows will be the protagonists which every year characterize the traditional festival so loved by the people of Cervia and appreciated by visitors and tourists.
Host city this year, the Venetian cortina d’Ampezzoa popular ski resort united with Cervia by the strong tourist appeal, by the sporting vocation and by the care and valorisation of natural beauty. The host city will be the protagonist of the Ring Ceremony Saturday 11 May at 11 am in Piazza Garibaldi (in the municipal theater in case of bad weather), where the exchange of gifts between the two cities will take place and where a preview of the historical procession will take place, with the actors Maria Pia Timo and Vito in the role of the Lady of the Anello and the Podestà.
The program of Ascension Sunday is rich and linked to tradition, Sunday 12 May. Lhe day is dedicated to the eagerly awaited celebration of the ancient rite at sea and to the challenge of ring fishing where young people from Cervia compete for the “trophy” which promises luck and prosperity. In the morning the Ring Trophy is scheduled in Piazzale dei Salinari at 10 am and the “Sea and Fishing” heritage walk, starting from the San Michele Tower at 10.30. From 4 pm, in Piazza Garibaldi, the performance of flag-wavers, musicians and standard bearers, representing the districts of the Palio del Niballo di Faenza, and the parade of figures in historical costumes precede the solemn blessing of the ring by Archbishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni. At 5.15 pm the historical procession of participants and authorities will move towards the canal port, where among the cheering crowds the boats wait to go out into the open sea to renew the ancient rite of marriage with the Adriatic. They will also wear the costumes of the Lady of the Ring and the Podestà in this case Maria Pia Timo and Vito, great friends from the city of Cervia.
