We're always sniffing about for an excuse for a party here - so when we learned that 25 March was the original "New Years", we thought that we'd better celebrate all over again just to be sure...
The 25 March was traditionally the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - known as Lady Day. It was the first day of the first quarter of the year when contracts were renewed between farmers and landlords, meaning that it was celebrated as 'New Year' in medieval times.
In 1752, the Julian calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar, and Lady Day was relegated - New Years became 1 January as we all know today. However, seeing as it's still officially Lady Day, we thought that it might be a good idea to make a couple of Lady's Sidecar tonight, put on some choral music and make merry medieval style.
According to legend, the city of Venice was founded at the stroke of noon on this day in March 421, when the dedication of its first church, San Giacomo di Rialto, is said to have taken place.
Nothing of the original church remains today, and the present church on this site is famed for its huge and famously inaccurate, one-handed, 15th-century clock that looms over its Gothic entrance portico.
There are no surviving records of the origins of Venice but some historians believe that its original population comprised Roman refugees from nearby undefended countryside and coastline fleeing the Germanic and Hun invasions.
Venice is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world, so today we're drinking to its modest origins with a simple but very lovely Little Venice.