Gondolas

The following is what I learned about gondolas:

1. Two hundred years ago, there were 10,000 gondolas in Venice. Although the aristocracy preferred horses to boats through the early Middle Ages, beginning in the 14th century, when horses were outlawed from the streets of Venice, the noble class embraced gondolas as a respectable form of transportation. In the 1500s an estimated 10,000 gondolas of all types were in Venice; in 1878 an estimated 4000 and now approximately 400.  All are flat bottomed. Traditional Venetian rowing boats don’t have a keel!
2. They don’t have a rudder. The rower at the back of the boat stirs the boat by pivoting an oar in an (open) oarlock, a forcola.
3. Rowing is performed standing up, looking forward, and pushing.

The flat bottom and the absence of the rudder allowed Venetian boats to navigate over very shallow waters. Similarly, the standing position gave rowers the opportunity to see in advance which route to take. In fact, rowers can understand the depth of the water ahead by how the waves move on the surface.

Today, Venetian gondolas are most known as a black boat used in Venice for tours through the narrow canals of the city. Gondoliers, in fact, offer visitors the possibility to ride on a gondola through Venice for a fixed price of 80 euros for a 25-30 minutes tour. We will be walking!