The Olympic flame on Thursday crossed through Venice, where torchbearers glided on traditional Venetian boats down the Grand Canal and across St. Mark’s Basin facing the famed Doge’s Palace, as part of the route to the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
The flame arrived near dusk in Venice’s Piazzale Roma, the main bus terminal for people arriving in the city. It then crossed the Ponte delle Guglie in Cannaregio en route to the arched Rialto Bridge, where it was loaded onto a boat to traverse the Grand Canal toward the wooden Accademia Bridge.
Francesco Lamon, an Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist, was one of the torchbearers on Thursday. “It’s an indescribable emotion,” he told The Associated Press.
People cheered from the side of the canal as the flame, held aloft by torchbearers, was conveyed on a long traditional Venetian boat once used to carry Venice’s rulers. Called the Serenissima, it traveled with smaller traditional boats and police on Jet Skis.
One small group of anti-war demonstrators called for Israel and the U.S. to be excluded from the Games. After reaching the Accademia Bridge, the flame was carried by foot to Punto della Salute opposite St. Mark’s Square, followed by a brief tour of St. Mark’s Basin before it was set down at the Doge’s Palace.
Thousands of people gathered in St. Mark’s Square to cheer as the flame passed St. Mark’s Basilica, where a small cauldron was lit. Venice was the 46th stage of the 63-day torch relay covering 12,000 kilometers (nearly 7,500 miles), which started in Rome and will wind its way through all 110 Italian provinces before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony on Feb. 6.
Two official cauldrons will burn during the Games, with one in Milan at Arco della Pace in Sempione Park and the other in Cortina in Dibona Square. It is the first time in nearly 20 years—since the 2006 Turin Games—that Italy has hosted the flame.
The Winter Games run through Feb. 22, when the closing ceremony will take place in the Veneto city of Verona. Venice, meanwhile, has long served as a crossroads between Eastern and Western civilizations, with Byzantine architecture and a history tied to the trade of spices, silks and art. In the modern era, it is the capital of the Veneto region, which includes host city Cortina in the Dolomites to the north, and on a clear day snow-capped mountains can be seen from the historic center.