From our blog it Venice. it
Tall, blonde, proud of "driving" a gondola. The first female gondolier in the history of this ancient activity is a Venetian (which is not surprising). A gondolier proud to have passed, about ten years ago, the strict selection that authorizes to drive this typically Venetian boat. The gondola is a fascinating and difficult vessel to navigate lead (this is the term used in Venice to indicate the management of the vehicle), one of the symbols of the lagoon city to which the common imagination has always associated a male figure, that of the gondolier. Until she arrived.
Her name is Giorgia and she is the daughter of a gondolier
Georgia Boscolo, who is also the mother of two children, in these ten years of activity she has been able to adapt and live with a world that is still very masculine. A vocation born since she was a little girl because her father, Dante Boscolo, was also a gondolier.
To Venice there are about 650 gondoliers, it is therefore striking that in such a large number there is only one woman. This "gender" imbalance is actually more linked to a tradition than to a real foreclosure. Times have also changed in the world of gondoliers and, if a woman has the ability to pass the theoretical / practical tests, the desire and the strength to support the physical commitment related to working in a gondola, she has the opportunity to do so. Before Giorgia, a young German had tried. In his case, the tests had not all been passed and therefore he did not have the opportunity to enter what is called Gondoliers Association (ex Ente Gondola) which groups together all the gondoliers who work in the gondolas from freight and in those from ferry.
Gondola from freight e da ferry
The significance of this distinction. The gondola from freight (ancient definition which means "for hire") are those used for the classic tour in the lagoon. The Venetians use it on special occasions such as some weddings. The gondola from ferry they are a little bigger than those from freight and serve to pass from one bank of the Grand Canal. They are the most used by Venetians, who normally use this service, which is sometimes faster and more practical than the ferry. Giorgia Boscolo, the first gondolier, works on a ferry, that of San Tomà, which in this stretch of the Grand Canal connects the districts of Dorsoduro and San Polo to that of San Marco. The station opens at 7.30 and closes at 19.30. During this time, the gondoliers alternate work in the gondola with breaks on the shore. For men as well as for women, they are destined to increase.
In the last competition announcement, two years ago, eight showed up. All women from the world of rowing, rowing champions (with participation also in the Historical Regatta) and teachers of that particular discipline which is Venetian rowing. The first tests were passed by two competitors who have yet to finish the competition. To participate, you must be of legal age and have the minimum qualification required by law. It is also compulsory to attend a course at the Tourist Institute which provides - among other things - knowledge of the English and Spanish languages. Practical tests are added, obviously the most important. A rowing test at the bow of the gondola and a second test at the stern. “For those who will work on a ferry - explains the president of the Gondolieri Association, Andrea Baldi - the test rowing from the bow is the most important. For those who will bring the gondola instead from freightthe examination of the stern rowing is fundamental ". And the relationship between gondoliers and gondoliers? "No problem, we are in favor and we do not have any kind of foreclosure."
Being a gondolier is an ancient and difficult profession
It remains to say that, whether gondoliers or gondoliers, lead a gondola is physically demanding and technically difficult. It is about a boat 11 meters long and with an asymmetrical shape. Keeping it balanced is not easy, especially in the tight curves of the Venetian canals. But this skill, for many Venetian gondoliers, comes from Dna.
From a thousand-year-old history, when the gondolas from casada they were the private vehicles of the Venetians of the time. And the gondoliers were their "drivers". The gondola from freight it is a more recent acquisition, the one from the ferry represents one of the oldest transport services because the Venetians commonly used it when the vaporettos were not there. And what role did women play in all this? Do not they wore the gondolas, but also in ancient times they were skilled rowers of boats with different purposes and uses.
