Venetian-Style Bisse Races: Passion, Supporters, and Lake Garda Events
A magical evening, overwhelmed by fans of the bisse, the Venetian-style racing boats from rowing to boat. Mostly female supporters, made up of mothers, wives, fiancées, and young admirers, who every Saturday night follow the caravan of rowers as it moves from one town to another along Lake Garda. They gather along the waterfront, searching for the best spot, closest to the water to be heard and to cheer on their favorites. Some also take care of refreshments to nourish the athletes at the end of each race.
Other, mostly younger, wives wait for everything to be over before passing their very young children still in strollers to their fathers. “I’ve not missed a regatta in ten years,” says Marzia Bongiovanni, wife of Mauro Faraoni, Garda rower for a decade, now on his third oar on the bisse Bardolino, “and every time I feel the same anxiety until the race ends.” This time didn’t go quite well? “I wouldn’t say so, since they were only narrowly defeated. It would have gone better if Mauro hadn’t hurt his knee. He didn’t even participate in the Assumption of Garda regatta to stay in shape for this penultimate challenge. We’ll make up for it next Saturday to finish the championship in second place.”
Supporters’ commitment and race details
His eleven-year-old daughter Federica nods and makes her presence known when she blows her whistle-spray at decisive moments in the race. “I never leave it because it’s a good luck charm,” Federica insists, “and Dad says he can hear it because of its different sound from the others.” Fiorenza, wife of Luciano Montresor, the sports director of the bisse teams at the Centro Nautico Bardolino, has a very specific task: preparing desserts for each end of race. They are mostly eaten standing under a streetlamp along the waterfront or at the parking lot corner where the support vehicle with food and drinks is parked.
It’s a humble sport, and everyone makes do as they can. “I care about the boys,” Fiorenza admits, “as if they were my sons.” It’s no surprise she receives reciprocal affection, given the specialties she whips up every Saturday. “This one with chocolate I made Friday night,” she says while slicing it. “And the other this morning.” Today, it’s an event at the Centro Nautico headquarters in via Preite, taking place since the race was run in familiar waters with presence from all eight rowers and the wives of the club president Pierluigi Pozzani and close collaborators.
Celebrations and anticipation for the finale
At Villa Bottagisio Carrara park, where Garda’s rowers are eating sandwiches before the awards ceremony, there are also Claudia and Gloria, nineteen-year-old twins—one with dark hair and the other blond. They’ve been interested in the bisse for just a couple of years since their boys started rowing. “We don’t follow them all the time like we’d like,” sighs Claudia, “it gets too demanding to move to the other side of the lake. We’ll see if it’s possible next year.”
There is a celebration around the Ichtya, the winning boat, ready to make the final move next Saturday to secure the Lake Flag for the second year in a row. Simona Mattei, wife of rower Paolo Tacconi, isn’t carried away too much by the group’s joy. “It’s better to wait until the championship is over,” she emphasizes, “so as not to be disappointed. If everything goes well, then it will be a big celebration.”