In Venice one takes a gondola as in America he takes a taxicab: with
one difference,--after the gondola ride he still has some money left. A
gondola is a long black skiff, with graceful lines and a swanlike prow
sweeping up from the water. It is typically Venetian. It is admirably
adapted to the work it has to do. There are only two points in all
Venice where a gondola may not go even at low water,--one near the
great theater of the Fenice, and the other near the Palazza Mocenigo at
San Stae.
Two is the best number of passengers for a gondola. The rower is out of
sight, behind. All is ideal. There is no noise, no dust, not even the
feeling of motion, except the ripple of water past the bow.
The wood of which a gondola is built must be well seasoned and without
knots. All gondolas turned out of one workshop are the same length.
A new gondola is left unpainted for the first year. This is to prove
its newness to any possible buyer. An unpainted gondola can easily be
examined for knots. As soon as it is painted its value decreases.
The gondoliers become very attached to their own boats. They learn
their peculiarities; for a gondola, like a person, has a character of
its own.
Since the earliest days of Venice gondolas have been in use. Their
present form has resulted from gradual development. The earliest
authentic document relating to Venice mentions the light boats that
were to the Venetians “as horses tied to the doors of their houses.”
At first these boats were simple in construction; but in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries the gondolas became very sumptuous. Finally,
so luxurious did they become that they had to be regulated by law. Now
they are longer and speedier, and are usually painted black.
There are about twenty ferries operating across the Grand Canal and
the Giudecca. They resemble our cab service. The gondoliers also have
guilds or unions. The police license the gondolas; but the real laws of
the gondolier are those of his guild. Each guild has its own meeting
place, where all questions of hours of work and choice of station are
settled. If one member of the union becomes sick, he is cared for out
of the public purse, and if he dies he is carried to the grave by his
fellow members. These guilds are probably the last survivors of the old
medieval crafts of Venice.
The skill of the average Venetian gondolier is marvelous. Rare
indeed are collisions. These gondoliers are not the romantic heroes
one may imagine them to be. They do not float in the moonlight
singing serenades beneath their sweethearts’ windows. They are hardy
fellows, thrifty, sober, and laborious, good husbands and fathers,
matter-of-fact money makers.
One dollar and forty cents a day is the charge for a gondola and its
gondolier in the season; at other times the price is forty cents less.
A gondolier earns on an average sixty cents a day. This does not seem
very much; but the gondoliers live fairly well, and even put money into
the bank.
All the gondoliers of Venice are divided into two factions, the
Nicolotti and the Castellani. The rivalry between these two is intense,
and the question of supremacy was formerly settled by the knife.
Nowadays, however, more peaceable but exciting races are the means. The
Nicolotti wear a black sash and cap, and the Castellani wear red. There
are four principal races a year. The first is rowed in May for a banner
of red and gold; in August two pennons are rowed for, the white and
gold, and the green; the blue banner is the prize in October.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27