I Gondolieri – The Gondoliers

The history of the gondola is inextricably entwined with that of the gondolier. From his days in the service of patrician families to his modern role as a self employed tour guide, he has always been an integral component of the social structure of the city.

The gondolier is essential to the spirit and self esteem of the city. He is a virtuoso, fabled for his dry wit and consequently is often revered as the truest embodiment of an 'indigenous' Venetian. A gondolier is typically seen off duty sprawling the hours away, sometimes engaging in desultory argument, or playing with a communal cat. With elaborate circumventions devised to augment their income a stentorian flood of curious knowledge and improbable historical anecdotes they are almost as enigmatic a creature as the gondola itself.

The nature and character of the gondolier has been, to some extent a creation of the gondola itself. As a result of the skill required to propel the boat he can proudly carry out his acrobatic, seemingly effortless task, placed almost vainly upon the stern (see Appendix).

A prerequisite of the gondolier is that he's a native. He is obliged to undertake a 10 year apprenticeship with a "padrone" before acquiring a license however the number of licences issued is limited so young gondoliers must wait until colleagues give up licences on the grounds of age or sickness. Even then the young gondolier must be content with a quieter place on the canal with the best locations reserved for the older gondoliers.

The gondolier's warning cries of "premi" (left) and "stali" (right), like the calls of elderly world weary sea birds, fascinated early visitors. Nowadays they are contracted to "Oee" or a raucous whistle, nonetheless the gondolier still maintains a native language of address, typically peculiar in every regard. (The calls affected Wagner, during a stay in Venice, to suggest the wail of the shepherds pipe at the opening of the 3rd act of Tristan, and pedestrians adopted them on awkward street corners during Second World War black outs).

Since the advent of a steamer service in the 19th century genuine species of gondolier have become faced with extinction to such an extent that spectacular gondolier's strikes took place in 1961 & 1978. Still from time to time the Gondolier's co-operative announces the impending disappearance of the last gondola from the canals, in a spate of emotional posters. Venice without the gondolier and consequently the gondola, is as inconceivable for Venetians as it is for the tourists.

A final crucial development occurred at the end of the 19th c. when Domenico Tramontin at his squero near S.Sebastiano began to build gondolas of the type now built at the last Squero in Venice: S.Trovaso. To increase speed and enable the vessel to turn on its axis (since canals narrowed with ever widening fondemente), he built vessels which were asymmetrical from every regard, lifting the bows clear of the water.

The modern equivalent of the gondola are the motor launches of the nouveau riches who continue a tradition in the boatyards of Venice. Their snobbishness is contrary to the "bonhomie" of the gondoliers, who are rocked in the wake of motorboats and half poisoned by the fumes.

Once oars were handed down from father to son as the boat's life spanned half a century, but now because of wave damage from motor boats and pollution a gondola becomes firewood after 20 years.These launch drivers are according to Jan Morris, almost "heedless nobles in a doomed and backward kingdom; riding their cruel black horses across a peasant crop."

[Pictured below left: End elevations and section illustrating the full extent of the assymmetry of the Tramontin model that is produced today. Below Right: Scale comparisons of the gondola and the motoscafi.]

The unhurried gondolier is still swift. With a cargo of talkative tourists, it easily keeps up with a man walking along a canal bank, and despite modern technological advances it is still an efficient mode of transportation. In contrast to the propelled boat it can meander where it pleases on the lagoon, and float in a few inches of water.

Today the major problem for the gondola has been the imposition of a modern scale, pace, and arrogance in the city that has congested the waterways, where, once more than 10,000 gondoliers amicably roamed.

[Pictured Below: The art of turning a gondola around a tight corner]