The ships pavilion in the Venice Arsenal

Each year in Venice on the first Sunday of September the famous Historical Regatta takes place, in which a procession of antique boats led by costumed Renaissance figures parade on the waters of the Grand Canal.

Venice has a long tradition of ancient boats and you can get an idea by visiting the little-known ships pavilion near the Arsenale. This enormous area, once the seat of the workshops of the remeri, is now part of the Historic Naval Museum.

In the first of the three sections that divide the room, there is a torpedo motorboat from World War II and a coal-fired 1895 working motorboat.

The second section houses the majestic ‘royal vessel', a beautiful eighteen-oar boat, with cabin and hull covered with gilded carvings, which was built at the Arsenal in the 1850 and used for the most solemn ceremonies at the time. It was used to transport King Vittorio Emanuele II to St. Mark in his first entry into Venice and it also accompanied in her last trip the coffin of Pius X. All around there are gondolas, bragozzi and other small vessels.

In the last hall stands the Elettra Marconi engine concoction with its huge boilers. Built in 1904 for the Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria, it became the floating laboratory of the great scientist.