Mark Nicholls visits Venice, where he goes beyond the usual tourist sites to take lessons in rowing like a real gondolier… Photos by Sharon Nicholls unless otherwise stated Nan McElroy is patiently attempting to teach me the technique. The words grip, twist, lunge, push and return are in the instructions, chanted like a coded mantra, but […]
Mario Matassa reveals the inside story on the iconic Venetian gondola as he visits the workshops and discovers a tale of tradition, craftsmanship and politics Changing tides What a life it must be, meandering day after day through the waterways of the world’s most beautiful city, one man, his boat and not a care in […]
Mario Matassa reveals the inside story on the gondola as he visits the workshops and discovers a tale of tradition, craftsmanship and politics… It’s as Italian as spaghetti al pomodoro. It’s an icon of our times. It’s a 10.87m long symbol of a city, a country and a people. It’s 900 years of history and […]
Think of transport in Venice and you think of the gondola, but this is a relationship that has been developed in large part by the city’s tourism industry. As a working boat, there are better options. Though it is now recognized the world over as the typical boat of Venice, the gondola is in fact […]
Elizabeth Jones, Guildford “This is Venice, in spring time, before the crowds have arrived. We had just come to the end of our first gondola trip and were standing watching another gondolier passing and relishing the wonderful experience.”