Traditional boats: gondolas. The Venetian gondolier is one of the main symbols of Venice. What is in the hands of the gondolier

Taking a gondola ride in Venice is a must on any tourist itinerary and the most romantic way to explore the city. The gondola in Venice is both a means of transportation and a symbol of the city.

Design and control technology

When Venice began to be built up with houses, due to a lack of land, the streets turned out to be very narrow, and some houses were designed in such a way that they did not have access to the street at all, but only to the canals. So water transport was a necessary necessity already for the 11th century.

During the time of the Venetian Republic, gondolas were almost the only transport running to any point in the city. Now this is a way of entertaining tourists and good income for gondoliers. Until now, this profession is inherited, and there is no way to get into gondoliers from the street. In its entire history, only once has a woman received a license to operate a gondola. This “nonsense” occurred in 2009. To obtain a license it is not enough to be able to row. You need to know the following:

foreign language;
city map;
traffic rules and signs;
history of Italy;
complete 9 months of training;
be able to sing.

The gondolier is easily recognizable by his costume: a blue and white striped sweater and a straw hat with ribbons. Moreover, they are not required to wear this costume, but they always do so.

Until the 18th century, the colors, sizes, and designs of boats were different, but then a standard was developed that is still in effect today:

length - 11 meters;
width - 1.4 meters;
weight - 400 kg;
black color.

There are many different stories associated with color. The most romantic - under the cover of darkness, lovers swam to their ladies, and in order to keep the secret and remain unrecognized, the gondolas were made inconspicuous against the background of the dark waters of the canals.

The design of the boat is rounded, with the bow and stern raised up, which makes it easier to control while moving. The bottom is flat, without a keel. The left side of the vessel is wider than the right, due to which it constantly tilts slightly to one side, but this allows the rower standing on the right side not to pull the oar out of the water.

Traditionally, the gondola is made from 9 wood species: beech, linden, mahogany, oak, walnut, elm, cherry, spruce, larch. Then coated with black varnish paint. Each boat requires 280 parts, three years of time spent on its manufacture and 45 thousand in European currency.

Currently, only one shipyard in Venice produces custom gondolas and repairs them.

The narrow Venetian canals mean that the boat only has one oar. You simply cannot navigate them with two oars.
The oar mount is designed in such a way that it allows you to change the speed, make quick maneuvers and move backwards. An iron tip - ferro - is mounted on the nose. It is designed to protect the wood from splitting when it comes into contact with stone jetties. This tip is quite heavy - it serves as a counterweight to the gondolier standing on the opposite side. Its image symbolizes the 6 districts of Venice, so the ferro is made in the shape of a ridge.

The design is such that the gondolier exerts the same amount of effort both when steering an empty boat and with passengers. The capacity of this type of transport is 6 people. Deviations from the design described above are allowed in rare cases, mainly for boats participating in any events.

The gondolier sets the ship in motion with an oar, but at the same time he does not make rowing movements, but push movements with a slight rocking of the boat. The oar moves along a trajectory somewhat reminiscent of the English letter “J”.

Many tourists strive to get to Venice on the first Sunday in September, as on this day a gondola parade and competitions are held every year.

Today there are 425 gondoliers in Venice and no circumstances can change this number.

Where to get a boat

If you want to ride a gondola, you can do it in any part of Venice. There are especially many boats near shops, hotels, places of interest, i.e. where there are the most tourists.

But in three places in the city they will be guaranteed:

Rialto Bridge;
Murano Island;
St. Mark's Square.

The parking areas can be identified by long wooden piles sticking out of the water. They are called palins.

To guarantee access to the excursion, you can book a trip online. And in case of bad weather or high tide, when the rowers do not work, the money is returned to the customer with a 100% guarantee. Through the resource, you can order an individual or group trip, choose a route, and then at the appointed time and in the specified place the gondola will be waiting for customers. If the route is not determined in advance, then it is determined by the “captain”.

Schedule:

8.00-19.00;
19.00- 8.00.

During the daytime, you can order a service such as a gondolier serenade. Singing is prohibited in the evening and at night.
Owners decorate their ships with capes, fringes, flowers, candlesticks, but with a sense of proportion. It is allowed to equip the boat with a protective cabin from the sun and rain. In general, the appearance of the gondolas is quite strict. There are also many rules that rowers must follow. This is strictly monitored by the carabinieri. For example, one of these rules is to shout a long “OE” when turning in order to warn the other gondolier and avoid a collision.

How much does a gondola cost in Venice?

Local residents prefer to travel by water bus - vaporetto, and gondolas are designed exclusively for visitors. The cost of the trip depends on several factors:

route;
excursion from a gondolier with interesting stories and Italian songs;
presence or absence of music;
ship decoration.

The fee is per boat. The cost is divided by the number of passengers, respectively, the more people, the lower the cost for each.

The average cost is 100 euros per half hour, there is no fixed price. In the evening the price is approximately 25% higher than during the day. But you can discuss with the rower the time of the trip, which will also determine the cost. You just need to do this before you get on the boat. Otherwise, if a tourist boards a gondola without discussing the details, he automatically accepts the terms of the gondolier. It is not customary to bargain on this issue, especially with a large influx of people wanting to ride, and it is useless. If the announced price does not suit you, then it is better to look for another gondola.

The cost also depends on the starting point of the route. On the outskirts of the city, a trip may be more profitable than in the center. The price of travel increases during holidays and carnivals.

Payment is due before departure. There are no discounts for children or the elderly. You can take photos for free. It is even possible to host wedding events, but in this case you will have to pay a hefty sum - prices start from 1,700 euros.

Musical accompaniment increases the cost of the trip, but gives the opportunity to enjoy Neapolitan (most often) and Venetian songs with a guitar or accordion.

If you want to take a ride along the canals and don’t have money, you can use a less romantic, but cheaper option - tragetto. This is a ferry boat whose route runs from St. Mark's Square to the Rialto Bridge. The ferry ride costs only 50 cents, but the duration is no more than 2 minutes. Tragettos are parked in diversion channels. These places are marked with yellow signs.

Venice - the eternal city of romance! For many centuries in a row, complete flooding has been predicted for him, but he, like a phoenix bird, rises from the water, leaving multiple “scars” on his body from the floods he experienced.
When I hear the word “Venice”, a romantic picture is drawn in my imagination - evening, a narrow canal, a couple in love in a gondola, to whom the gondolier sings a song, slowly floating along the houses growing out of the water and connected by bridges.

If you ask a gondolier about the history of the gondola, he will tell you a wonderful legend about a young boy and girl who spent the whole day wandering the streets of Venice in search of a secluded place, but could not find it. And when it got dark, the moon took pity on the lovers and descended from the sky straight into the waters of the canal in the form of a shining gondola, where they enjoyed each other’s company all night.
Once upon a time, the gondolier profession was seasonal, from May to September. The rest of the time, gondoliers were engaged in other crafts. Now, with the influx of tourists, it is in demand all year round.
A Venetian gondolier is not a job or a profession, it is a calling and an art!
Back in the 17th century, a steward from Russia, Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, who visited the Venetian Republic, described the situation in the city as follows:
“There are no livestock on the territory of Venice; in the city there are no carriages, no loaded carts, no horses, no luxurious carriages with coats of arms. The Venetians don’t even know what a sleigh is.”
The narrow streets of Venice, located between the canals, are so unpredictable and cramped that it is difficult for riders to pass through them, because of this, back in the 16th century, the use of horses in the city was strictly prohibited by the Venetian authorities; residents of the city on the water could only use water transport for transportation .

Initially, the word “gondola” was used to describe absolutely any boat, regardless of its size or shape; over the years, the appearance of the gondola has changed significantly. The word "gondola" in the original sounds with the emphasis on the first syllable. It is believed that the origin of the concept of "gondola" is etymologically related to the word "gonger", which translates as "sea eel".

The canals of Venice are so narrow that it was difficult for boats carrying passengers and various goods to pass by.
Therefore, they tried to make the gondolas as narrow as possible, and to increase their carrying capacity, the length of the boat was increased as much as possible. Now the gondola is a narrow, oblong boat of an asymmetrical shape; while sliding along the water surface, it moves forward in a zigzag motion, and the gondolier, trying to maintain the desired direction, constantly has to level its position.

The length of the boat is 11.05 meters, width 140 centimeters, the bottom is flat without a keel. The empty gondola weighs about 900 pounds (approximately 400 kilograms). Due to its asymmetrical shape, the length of the left side is 24 cm longer than the right side. The hull of the boat has a rounded shape, the bow and stern are raised up to minimize the area of contact with the water and give the rower guidelines for the direction of movement.
Nine types of wood are used to make the gondola. After manufacturing, the boat hull is coated in several layers with a special black varnish.
The gondola has only one oar, historically this was caused by the narrowness of the canals, in which two-oared boats would not be able to pass. The oar is held in an oar lock called a forcola.
The forkola design has a complex shape, allowing for several oar positions:
for slow forward motion, powerful fast rowing, spinning and turning the boat, slowing down and rowing backward.
A special iron knob is installed on the nose of the gondola - “ferro”.
Installing a ferro serves several purposes: the iron tip protects the bow of the boat; is a counterweight to the gondolier standing at the opposite end; it is used to determine the height of the bridge and the possibility of a gondola passing under it.
In the form of a ferro there are six protrusions, symbolizing the six districts of the city characteristic of 1169, in the other direction the sign is crossed by a seventh stripe, associated with the island of Giudecca, and the very rounding at the top of this element of the gondola resembles the hat of the Doge of Venice.
The Venice Gondoliers Association monitors compliance with the rules and purity of traditions.
The history of the Association goes back almost a thousand years - it arose in 1094.
It’s hard to imagine the city of love and romance without black gondolas)
The maximum number of passengers carried on a gondola is six people.

It is allowed to have a small passenger cabin to shelter passengers from the sun and rain.
Traffic lights have long been installed on canals, as well as on ordinary streets of modern cities.
As a rule, they are located above “crossroads”, at the intersection of Venetian canals, but there are only two colors on Venetian traffic lights - green and red.
According to tradition, gondoliers rarely look at traffic lights, and before crossings they begin to shout loudly so as not to collide with another boat. Although gondolas now mainly carry tourists, so their number has sharply decreased, the natives of Venice usually travel by motorboats, which is much faster and cheaper.

Today there are a limited number of gondoliers in Venice, just over 400, but previously there were thousands.

Licenses for this work can be inherited from father to son, as a result of which it is not easy for an outsider to become a gondolier.
There are a lot of people who want to become one of the Venetian gondoliers. Becoming a gondolier is not an easy task, you need to prepare for a long time, study and pass many exams, including in English, know the geography of Venice and, of course, practice driving, maneuvering a gondola through the narrow canals of Venice.

Traditionally, gondoliers have been exclusively male gondoliers for centuries.
23-year-old Giorgia Boscolo became the first certified female gondolier in the history of Venice.
Boscolo is a family of hereditary gondoliers; her father, Dante Boscolo, was engaged in this craft.
He still believes that being a gondolier is not a woman’s profession, but he is still proud of his daughter.
http://lenta.ru/news/2009/06/26/gondolier/

Previously, gondolas were painted in different colors, but now everythingthey are traditionally black.
According to a well-known legend, the elderly Doge of Venice was married to a young beautiful girl, and some time after the wedding, servants informed him that at night his young wife was visited by a man wrapped in a cloak, sailing to the palace on a black gondola. The old Doge was unable to deal with his wife’s infidelities, and the introduction of a law requiring that all gondolas in Venice be repainted black allowed the old ruler to partially wash away his shame, so that the Venetians would simply no longer recognize the gondola floating up to his palace.

There is another version of the ban on multi-colored gondolas; many historians believe that for the first time all gondolas were repainted black back in the tragic year 1562, when the plague was raging in Venice, and the corpses of the dead had to be taken out of the city along canals on black gondolas.
Elegant, richly decorated and decorated gondolas, associated with wealth and luxury, looked simply ridiculous during the days of general mourning, so the leadership of the Venetian Republic issued a decree on the need to paint boats, like coffins, in mourning black.

Centuries have passed, the narrow canals of Venice are still slowly and silently Long black gondolas glide along; only one symbol remains of the decorations on them - an iron tip made in the form of a comb.

The moon sheds a silver light on a wide canal, on both sides of which rise palaces.
Take your time, gondolier confidently controls his gondola, obediently floating up the canal...

When I hear the word “Venice,” a romantic picture is drawn in my imagination - evening, a narrow canal, a couple in love in a gondola, to whom the gondolier sings a song, slowly floating along the houses growing out of the water and connected by bridges.

Once upon a time, the gondolier profession was seasonal, from May to September. The rest of the time, gondoliers were engaged in other crafts. Now, with the influx of tourists, it is in demand all year round.

A Venetian gondolier is not a job or a profession, it is a calling and an art!

Back in the 17th century, a steward from Russia, Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, who visited the Venetian Republic, described the situation in the city as follows:

“There are no livestock on the territory of Venice; in the city there are no carriages, no loaded carts, no horses, no luxurious carriages with coats of arms. The Venetians don’t even know what a sleigh is.”

The narrow streets of Venice, located between the canals, are so unpredictable and cramped that it is difficult for riders to pass through them, because of this, back in the 16th century, the use of horses in the city was strictly prohibited by the Venetian authorities; residents of the city on the water could only use water transport for transportation .

// ikkamirnaya.livejournal.com

The canals of Venice are so narrow that it was difficult for boats carrying passengers and various goods to pass by.

Therefore, they tried to make the gondolas as narrow as possible, and to increase their carrying capacity, the length of the boat was increased as much as possible. Now the gondola is a narrow, oblong boat of an asymmetrical shape; while sliding along the water surface, it moves forward in a zigzag motion, and the gondolier, trying to maintain the desired direction, constantly has to level its position.

// ikkamirnaya.livejournal.com

Nine types of wood are used to make the gondola. After manufacturing, the boat hull is coated in several layers with a special black varnish.

The gondola has only one oar, historically this was caused by the narrowness of the canals, in which two-oared boats would not be able to pass. The oar is held in an oar lock called a forcola.

The forkola design has a complex shape, allowing for several oar positions:

for slow forward motion, powerful fast rowing, spinning and turning the boat, slowing down and rowing backward. A special iron knob - "ferro" - is installed on the nose of the gondola.

Installing a ferro serves several purposes: the iron tip protects the bow of the boat; is a counterweight to the gondolier standing at the opposite end; it is used to determine the height of the bridge and the possibility of a gondola passing under it. In the form of a ferro there are six protrusions, symbolizing the six districts of the city characteristic of 1169, in the other direction the sign is crossed by a seventh stripe, associated with the island of Giudecca, and the very rounding at the top of this element of the gondola resembles the hat of the Doge of Venice.

The Venice Gondoliers Association monitors compliance with the rules and purity of traditions. The history of the Association goes back almost a thousand years - it arose in 1094. It’s hard to imagine the city of love and romance without black gondolas)

The maximum number of passengers carried on a gondola is six people.

// ikkamirnaya.livejournal.com

According to tradition, gondoliers rarely look at traffic lights, and before crossings they begin to shout loudly so as not to collide with another boat. Although gondolas now mainly carry tourists, so their number has sharply decreased, the natives of Venice usually travel by motorboats, which is much faster and cheaper.

// ikkamirnaya.livejournal.com

Today in Venice the number of gondoliers is limited, there are a little more than 400 of them, but previously there were thousands. Licenses for this work can be inherited from father to son, as a result of which it is not easy for an outsider to become one of the gondoliers. There are a lot of people who want to become one of the Venetian gondoliers. Becoming a gondolier is not an easy task, you need to prepare for a long time, study and pass many exams, including in English, know the geography of Venice and, of course, practice driving, maneuvering a gondola through the narrow canals of Venice.

// ikkamirnaya.livejournal.com

He still believes that being a gondolier is not a woman’s profession, but he is still proud of his daughter.

// ikkamirnaya.livejournal.com

Previously, gondolas were painted in different colors, but now they are all traditionally black. According to a well-known legend, the elderly Doge of Venice was married to a young beautiful girl, and some time after the wedding, servants informed him that at night his young wife was visited by a man wrapped in a cloak, sailing to the palace on a black gondola. The old Doge was unable to deal with his wife’s infidelities, and the introduction of a law requiring that all gondolas in Venice be repainted black allowed the old ruler to partially wash away his shame, so that the Venetians would simply no longer recognize the gondola floating up to his palace.

Gondola with the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the background. Artist Camille Corot.

Gondola is rightfully considered a symbol Venice. This is a very ancient type of vessel: the classic design of a narrow, flat-bottomed boat with raised ends developed about a thousand years ago and has not changed much since then. Latest adjustments to the design gondolas introduced in the 18th century - then all their characteristics, including sizes, materials and even coloring, were legally regulated and are strictly observed to this day. Perhaps, it is unlikely that you will find such an unshakable commitment to tradition anywhere else!

Canal San Marco and Doge's Palace. Artist Francesco Guardi.

Venice is the only city in the world where there are no wheeled vehicles. The role of streets and avenues here is played by canals. The land streets are so narrow, cramped and humpbacked due to the abundance of arched bridges that even in the 16th century Venetian The Doge issued a decree prohibiting not only carriages and carts, but also riding horses. Since then, residents of this amazing city have used only one type of transport - water.

Gondola on the Grand Canal.

Shape and design gondolas is a striking example of evolution in the field of “small-tonnage shipbuilding”. The volume of transportation was large, the canals were narrow, special seaworthiness was not required, so a boat with a very long and narrow hull looked most rational. Traffic along the canals was extremely intense, and ordinary oars with rowlocks would interfere with neighboring and oncoming ships. Therefore, the movement technique gondola not quite rowing, but rather rowing-push. Gondola Usually one person controls it: standing facing forward, he rocks the boat and at the same time performs ingenious manipulations with the oar.

Because gondolier works with an oar from one side (the right side), then in order to compensate for the deviation to the left, the hull of the boat has an asymmetrical shape: the contours of its left side are fuller than those of the right side. Gondola glides through the water not straightly, but along a wave-like trajectory, and steering the vessel in tight channels requires certain skills. It is curious that the effort expended gondolier, practically do not depend on the loading of the boat.

Gondolas in the parking lot. It is clearly visible that the hull of the boats has an asymmetrical shape.

IN Venice gondolas supplanted all other types of ships back in the Middle Ages. There is evidence that during the heyday Venetian Republic in the city there were about 10 thousand gondolas and 14 thousand gondoliers. In the 18th century, a law appeared regulating the size and design of boats, and "to combat waste" they were prescribed to be painted only black. True, it is possible that black gondolas began much earlier: according to one version, they were ordered to be repainted in 1562, when a plague epidemic was raging in the city. Then on gondolas the bodies of the dead were being transported, and the colorful colors of the ships looked out of place. Later, the authorities ordered that the boats be left black in memory of the tragedy that befell the city, and the law of the 18th century only confirmed the established tradition.

Gondolas are the “black swans” of the Venetian canals.

One way or another, but today through the channels Venice only blacks prance gondolas. They are all the same size: the hull length is 11.05 m, the width is 1.4 m. The empty weight of the boat is about 400 kg. The hull has an asymmetrical shape: at the midsection relative to the keel, its left part is 24 cm wider than the right. The bow and stern of the boat are raised upward to minimize the area of contact with the water, and, accordingly, the resistance to movement, and also to increase maneuverability. During production gondolas nine types of wood are traditionally used. The top of the body is decorated with decorative carvings and covered in several layers with a special black varnish.

The gondolier steers the boat, facing the direction of travel and working with one oar.

On the nose gondolas a flat iron comb is installed - "ferro". It performs several functions: protects the bow of the boat from impact, serves as a counterweight to those standing at the stern to the gondolier, it is used to estimate the clearance height of the next bridge and determine whether it will pass under it gondola or not. The six protrusions on the ferro symbolize the areas of the city that Venice was divided in 1169; the seventh protrusion at the back signifies the island of Giudecca, and the curve at the top signifies the doge's headdress.

As already mentioned, modern gondolas only one oar, which is installed in a specially shaped oarlock called "forcola". The design of the forcola allows the experienced to the gondolier masterfully wield the oar, providing various speed modes of the boat, turns and circulation, emergency braking and accurate mooring.

Maximum capacity gondolas- six passengers. Sometimes boats are equipped with a small cabin-tent for protection from the scorching sun or bad weather.

Gondola with cabin-tent and two gondoliers. This photo was taken almost a century ago.

Now in Venice there is only one shipyard left, engaged in construction and repairs gondolas. All work on it is carried out manually, using ancient technology. Each boat is assembled from 280 individual parts and takes approximately three years to build. Price gondolas comparable to the cost of a prestigious car and measured in tens of thousands of euros. All boats in service are the property of gondoliers, and therefore the owner tries in every possible way to protect his transport, which is the source of his income. Average service life gondolas is approximately 15 years. The high cost of the vessel, its relatively short life, coupled with increased requirements for the qualifications of the owners operating them, predetermine the fact that boat trips on "Venetian taxi" They are very expensive for tourists.

The transverse bulkheads of the gondolas are often decorated with picturesque paintings.

About the profession gondolier should be described separately. It requires great skill and is usually passed down from father to son. From the age of ten, a boy is taught not only how to wield an oar, but also history, foreign languages, singing (it’s not for nothing that gondoliers there is a special kind of song called barcarolle- from the Italian word barca, that is "boat"). Particular attention is paid to the complex science of communicating with wealthy tourists. Today Venetian gondolier is a representative of a special caste of handsome men with aristocratic manners, capable of making exquisite compliments in different languages to representatives of the fair sex of any age... It is not surprising that in the minds of many gondolier is a gigolo who enjoys increased attention from rich foreign women.

Gondoliers leisurely and full of self-esteem. They have their own uniform - a straw hat with ribbons and a striped T-shirt. Their profession is considered prestigious, and the number of licenses to work gondolier V Venice strictly limited: 425 of them are issued, no more, no less.

A gondolier stands by his boat, waiting for those wishing to take a boat trip.

Historically gondoliers Only men could become, but in June 2009 this centuries-old tradition was broken. 23 year old Georgia Boscolo passed difficult exams and became the first in history Venice officially recognized female gondolier. Although she comes from a family of hereditary gondoliers, however, her obtaining a license caused discontent among her male colleagues. Even the father Georgia Dante Boscolo Although he is proud of his daughter, he still believes that she has chosen a profession that is not at all feminine.

Gondolas on the Grand Canal. Artist Bernardo Belotto.

I wonder what the word "gondola", first encountered in Venetian document of 1094, in Italy it is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, they said the same thing in Russia. However, Russian poets did not like this sound, who often dedicated Venice poems: by the way "gondola" It was very difficult to find a rhyme. And they unanimously began to shift the stress to the second syllable - then the task was significantly simplified (for example, to "gondOle" rhymed well "barcarolle"). Gradually, this pronunciation became traditional among us. Only in recent years has the word begun to be heard again "gondola"— in particular, it is used by Russian guides working in Italy.

In addition to traditional passenger gondolas, now used exclusively for the entertainment of tourists, in Venice there are special and ceremonial gondolas. They occur quite rarely - usually on holidays or on the occasion of certain important events. For example, there is wedding gondolas, gondola hearses, gondola ferries (traghetto), racing gondolas (gondola di regatta). They sometimes accommodate up to 15 people and have several rowers. It should be emphasized Doge of Venice gondola, which takes part in the annual September Historical Regatta Regatta Storica. This ornate vessel houses a record-breaking gondolas number of rowers - 12.

Ceremonial gondola hearse. Photos of the first half of the last century.

About the structure of gondolas

“A gondola is a single-oared flat-bottomed boat with raised figured ends.” You can read this in the encyclopedia. The Venetians will never agree with such a dry definition. The gondola, for them, firstly, is a symbol of Venice. Secondly, the queen of boats. And finally, she is a wonderful woman.
Venice is the only city in the world where there is no wheeled transport, not even bicycles. The Russian steward P. Tolstoy assessed the situation in the city on the water in the 17th century: “In Venice there are no horses and no cattle, there are also no carriages, carriages, carts of any kind, and they don’t even know sleighs.” At first, boats of any shape and size in Venice were called gondolas, but the canals were always very narrow, and it was desirable to carry more passengers and goods, so the boats gradually lengthened and narrowed. The modern gondola is a long, narrow, asymmetrical boat that glides through the water in a zigzag motion, with the gondolier constantly straightening it to keep it in the desired direction.

Why is this boat called "gondola"

The name “gondola” (by the way, this word should be correctly pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable) first appears in a document of 1094 and possibly comes from “gonger” - “sea eel”. Then the boats had an arbitrary shape and were distinguished by a richness of color and decoration. By the 18th century, there were more than 10 thousand gondolas in Venice (now there are no more than 500). At the same time, “in order to combat waste,” a law was introduced according to which all gondolas must be black and of the same size: length - 11.05 m, width - 1.4 m. But the fact that the city authorities suddenly decided to introduce such strict the requirements for boat parameters were not related to the fight for savings. This innovation had a completely banal explanation.

Why is the gondola black?

According to Venetian legend, an elderly Doge was married to a very young girl. Soon the venerable ruler heard a rumor that a mysterious man in a cloak visited his wife at night. The servants reported to the ruler that he was arriving on a black gondola. The old Doge could not stop the secret meetings of young people, so he had the power to issue a decree that all the boats in the city should be repainted black. So he managed to partially hide his shame.
There is another version of this color of gondolas: Venetian gondolas became black only in 1562, when during the plague the bodies of the dead were transported around the city on gondolas. The decoration of the boats then looked simply ridiculous, and the government issued a decree to repaint the gondolas black, like coffins. Thus, the sad events of the Middle Ages forever changed the face of the city.

Gondola decoration.

The Venetian gondola is black. Its only decoration is an iron tip in the form of a comb. It is called ferro, it is the highest mark of the boat, and gondoliers use it to determine whether the gondola will pass under the next low bridge or not. The six stripes on the ferro symbolize the areas of the city into which Venice was divided in 1169; the seventh stripe, which has a different direction, symbolizes the island of Giudecca, and the rounded stripe symbolizes the Doge's hat. On the right side the gondola is 24 cm lower, this is due to the position of the gondolier, who lowers the oar to control the gondola only on the right side.

Gondoliers.

At first glance, these boats are the same, but in reality each of them is made for a specific person - a gondolier (they work only on their own boats). As a rule, this profession is inherited, but as an exception, it can be obtained for other merits (for example, winning the “Historical Regatta”). In any case, in order to obtain the right to drive a gondola, you must study in special gondolier courses for 9 months and pass serious exams: in boat control, in a foreign language and in the history of Venice. Only after this the mayor’s office will consider the applicant’s application for a prestigious license. The number of licenses to work as a gondolier in Venice is strictly limited - 425. Licenses can be inherited from father to son, as a result of which it is not easy for an outsider to become a gondolier. The greatest chances are for natives of Venice. Well, you also have to be a man, since women are not hired for this job. Today's gondoliers are mostly young guys; it is very rare to see an older man.

Gondoliers are women.

This summer in Italy, the first woman in the country was able to successfully pass the exams and receive a license to operate a gondola. 23-year-old Italian Giorgia Boscolo received a gondolier's license at a special school, which no lady had previously achieved. True, in the spring of this year the first female gondolier appeared in Venice. However, 42-year-old Alexandra High was able to obtain a license only after going to court. And Georgia Boscolo passed the exams required to drive a watercraft (gondola control, history of Venice and a foreign language) on an equal basis with men. Alexandra High succeeded only on her third attempt. In addition, Boscolo's predecessor did not meet the important criterion of a real gondolier - she could not sing. But the main thing that the Association of Italian Gondoliers emphasized, refusing to take Hai into its ranks, is that since the creation of the association, since 1094, neither girls nor foreigners have been gondoliers. As a result, only the trial helped her acquire a boatman's credentials. Boscolo has passed the disgrace of 425 harsh gondoliers from the association. Georgia worked hard for a long time to obtain this status. Since childhood, she was imbued with the romance of the Venetian boatman's craft. Her father Dante is a gondolier. By the way, he is also convinced that it is not a woman’s job to drive a gondola. The father did not deviate from this opinion even after his daughter’s success. However, this does not prevent him from now being proud of his heiress. After all, she passed all the tests with honor and remained the only woman to complete the course. In addition to Boscolo, there were two more contenders in the stream.

Gondolier tariffs.

The boat is expensive - from 30 to 90 thousand dollars. The most expensive are the so-called “wedding” gondolas. The average lifespan of a gondola is 15 years. But the life of a boat depends on many factors, in particular where it is stored; if the parking lot is located somewhere in a secluded place on the canal, then the period of operation is quite long, and if the gondola is parked in open water, then due to wind and waves, the duration of operation is noticeably reduced. The boat can only take six passengers on board. Or one - it will be whatever you like. Gondoliers charge each person up to 100 euros for a 60-minute ride, with another 50 every 20 minutes on top. Those who have visited Venice say that gondoliers are very reminiscent of Intourist taxi drivers of Soviet times: important and lazy, they stand in bunches all day, but their tariff is not reasonable. reduce. But as soon as you give in to their demands, the gondolier will come to life, like a machine gun that has just swallowed a token. He will smile for the entire paid period, sing, deftly stick a pole into the water, dodging other boats.

Gondolier uniform.

Gondoliers wear a straw boater with a red or blue ribbon and a red or blue striped T-shirt. Violators without this uniform may lose their license. But often gondoliers do not comply with the dress code, instead of traditional costumes of the 18th century, they dress in whatever they want.

Gondoliers are a special caste of handsome men.

Gondoliers have recently attracted more and more attention from women. From the age of ten, a boy learns to wield a treacherous oar and recklessly drive gondolas along the narrow Venetian canals. In addition, he absorbs the complex science of communicating with rich tourists, acquires aristocratic manners and masters the art of pronouncing such compliments that literally drive Scandinavian women, Englishwomen and other representatives of the fair sex crazy. The “set of rules” spells out some taboos that self-respecting “ladies’ men” do not have the right to cross. Thus, only women who arrived without a male escort are allowed to seduce; breaking up couples is strictly prohibited. In addition to prohibitions, the code contains recommendations on ways to seduce women depending on their nationality. According to the authors of this work, Canadians and Australians are very easy prey, and they “give up” after the first candlelit dinner or romantic gondola ride. But in order to gain the favor of a hot Latin American diva, you will have to have dinner with her at least three times.

Gondoliers Association.

Gondoliers have their own union. To coordinate their work, union members use mobile phones and email. Through these means of communication, they exchange information about arriving tourists, and also send reports on the work done to the “headquarters”. The requirements for gondoliers in a city on the water are very serious. First, you need to complete a special nine-month course. During this time, students must not only learn how to operate their boat, but also pass tests in English, knowledge of the geography of Venice and maritime law. Upon successful completion, a license is issued. You can, of course, according to some sources, try to get the notorious license “from the street.” But this pleasure is very expensive.
Secondly, a certified gondolier must complete a practical course. Thirdly, in further work the gondolier is obliged to observe the ancient traditions of the workshop, otherwise he may lose his license. Gondoliers constantly break this rule, and the Gondoliers Association tries to set them on the right path. In 2006, the association launched a campaign to combat bad taste, the Times newspaper writes. Special instructions were drawn up for gondola owners. According to this directive, a traditional Venetian boat should be unadorned black, and its leather seats should be a solid dark shade. It was in this form that the gondola was preserved from the 16th century to the beginning of the 21st century. But today's boatmen decorate their gondolas like Christmas trees to lure customers. Flashing lights, fluorescent patterns, plush pillows, and gold bedspreads are used. In addition, instead of barcarolles and gondoliers - traditional songs - gondoliers sometimes perform popular ones. The association categorically does not like the Neapolitan aria O Sole Mio instead of canonical songs, so it asked gondoliers to refrain from singing “hits” while riding tourists.

Rules for the movement of gondolas.

Today in Venice there are less than 500 gondoliers at the oar, while the city cannot do without gondolas. Any wheeled transport, including bicycles, is prohibited, but it is not necessary - you need to swim in Venice, not drive or walk. On the canals of Venice, like on any city streets, there are traffic lights. They hang over intersections and have only two "eyes": red and green. But the gondolier, as a rule, before reaching the intersection, shouts loudly that he won’t collide with anyone. The Venetians themselves rarely ride gondolas; they mostly use water taxis (motor boats), which are cheaper. For gondola parking in Venice, long poles driven into the bottom of the canals are provided at the piers.

Historical regatta.

Held on the first Sunday of September and presents one of the most picturesque spectacles. The event in honor of which the festival was established was the official abdication of Queen Caterina Cornaro (Venetian by birth) from the Cypriot throne in favor of the Venetian Republic. Katerina, having signed an act of renunciation, returned to her homeland in 1489, where she was given a grand welcome with a parade of ships. In those days, it was accompanied by almost any significant event, be it the visit of a foreign monarch, the election of a new doge or pope, or the honoring of winners.
The modern Historical Regatta begins with a costume parade - a symbolic ceremony of welcoming the Queen of Cyprus, and then the boat race begins. This sport has been popular in Venice since the 13th century: due to its specificity, the city has never experienced a shortage of rowers. Spectators take a very active part in the races, shouting, gesticulating and encouraging their favorites. Fans are located along the banks of the Canal, as well as on special floating stands or in boats moored to the pier. The winners of the regatta receive symbolic prizes: for 1st place - a red flag, for second, third and fourth - white, green and blue, respectively. This is instead of traditional medals. Until recently, there were other awards, the most curious of which was a live pig. Then, on the initiative of animal rights activists, they stopped giving the piglet away. All gondolas taking part in the competition are distinguished by bright colors and varied shapes, and the team and many spectators are dressed in historical dress, which can be made to order or rented from special studios. An indispensable component of the Regatta is a carnival procession, in which you will definitely see such historical characters as the Doge and his wife, the Queen of Cyprus, ambassadors and ministers dressed in the fashion of the 15th - 16th centuries. This vintage-dressed crowd against the background of ancient buildings and richly decorated gondolas allows the viewer to imagine themselves in Venice during the Renaissance - a luxurious and proud city.

English Channel by gondola.

Recently, two sixty-year-old Venetians crossed the English Channel in a gondola for the first time in the history of shipping. It must be said that they did it extremely quickly: the journey from the British Dover to the French port of Calais, where they were met by friends and fellow countrymen, took the gondoliers a little over seven hours. Throughout the 35-kilometer journey, the Italians sang their native Venetian songs and thereby lifted their spirits.

Poets about gondolas

The crews are like coffins, the coachmen are nothing but rowers. Nearby are dirty slums
And luxurious palaces. Poverty, splendor
Amazing mixture; Gold, marble and rags: Sorrow and arrogance of fallen glory!
Vyazemsky.
The night is quiet in the sky. The golden Vesper shines. The old doge floats in a gondola
With dogaressa young. The air is full of the breath of laurel. Bucentaur flags are dormant.
The dark sea is silent...
Pushkin.
Near the places where golden Venice reigns, Odin, a night rower, steering a gondola,
In the light of Vesper he floats along the seashore, Rinalda, Godfred, Erminia sings...
Pushkin.

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