The day of the Venetian Vogalonga festival (a rowing race) still has to be marked on the calendar this year, but in the last few years this festival has been a major success. On this day Venetians take possession of sea, the principal element on which this city is founded. Hundreds emerge on many different types of wooden row boats; they meet up in Saint Mark's Basin and from there they set off around the lagoon, come through Cannaregio and then up the Grand Canal finishing back in the Basin in front of St. Mark’s Square, a significant place where many ceremonies have taken place betwen the Doges and the sea.