Venice gondola - gondola di Venezia

Gondola is a symbol of Venice just as Rialto Bridge, the winged lion or San Marco Square are. Venice’s gondola is a legend, a unique work of art. Everything is thought-out and symbolic in gondola. To create a real Venetian gondola one needs to turn 289 details from 8 sorts of timber. Gondola is asymmetric: its right side is always higher than the left side to compensate the weight of the rower. His place and the rowlock are always put behind the passengers. On gondola’s bow the weight of the gondolier is balanced by a 30kg iron standard called ferro in Italian.

The form of the standard is symbolic. Six dents symbolize six areas of Venice. The seven’s stripe that has a different direction symbolizes Guidecca Island and the rounding on the top – a doge’s hat. Even in these details we feel the breath of history. Gondolas were used for transport in the reign of the first doge in the 7th century A.D. Only then they were more luxurious and brighter. Venetian gondolas became black only in 1562 when during the plague corpses were brought about the city in gondolas. Smartness of gondolas looked absurdly and the government issued an edict to colour gondolas black like coffins. The sorrowful events of Middle Ages changed the city’s face forever.