After 9/11, Venice Feted Firefighters. The Party Is Still Going.

Last edited Tue Sep 10, 2019, 09:48 PM - Edit history (1)

'Since 2003, hoteliers and others in the canal city have invited firefighters there to row its waters as a show of solidarity.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Daniel Nigro was chief of operations for the New York Fire Department. By the end of the day, after 343 firefighters had died, including Peter J. Ganci Jr., the department chief, he was in charge.

Mr. Nigro immediately became a public figure for collective grief.

“We could see from the pictures that he was sad,” said Bepi D’Este, a retired accountant and active civic figure on Burano island in the Venetian Lagoon, who, along with some of his friends, including a well-known restaurateur and the former president of a gondola company, often saw Mr. Nigro in the news. “We thought, let’s invite him here to Venice to have a good time. Maybe we can cheer him up.”

So they did.

Mr. Nigro and his wife, Lynn, traveled to Venice in September 2002, after he had stepped down from leading the department through a difficult year. They were treated to a ride steered by the legendary gondolier Gigi Strighetta, who came out of retirement to guide them. Venetians waved and cheered from the windows, bridges and banks of the canals.

At the time, Mr. Nigro was unaware that the cheering from the Venetians was for the unexpected appearance of the beloved gondolier, not the retired fire chief and his wife from New York. Still, he recalled being buoyed by the experience. He went on to have an inspired lunch at Harry’s Bar with Mr. D’Este and his friends. There, an idea was born. . .

In order to accommodate the New York firefighters, several Venetian hospitality experts were recruited. Lorenza Lain, a hotelier, arranged for rooms for incoming New Yorkers at the finest hotels in the city, including the Belmond Hotel Cipriani, and worked with other hoteliers to host dinners and galas in support of the effort.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/nyregion/9-11-nyc-firefighters-venice-gondoliers.html?