Venice: The Meeting of East and West - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 78

Figure 6.2. Gondolier
The shape of the gondola has remained fairly consistent for at least 400 years. As the
personal conveyance of the rich and the powerful, gondoliers were dressed in the livery of
their masters, while the gondola itself was ornamented with gold and silver fittings. In the
seventeenth century, seeking to dampen conspicuous display, the doge (duke) decreed that
all gondolas be painted black. It has remained the standard color since.
During that same century, it is estimated that 10,000 gondolas plied the canals. Today
there are only about 400 found within the city. For travelers and Venetians alike, few sights
in Venice are lovelier or more romantic than a wedding gondola, heaped with flowers, car-
rying bride and groom to and from their church.
Modernity has come to the ancient craft of the gondolier. They continue to wear their
striped shirts and broad straw hats. But visitors may now hire a gondola on the Internet. As
the time finally arrives for the big trip, a traveler may wish to carry along Robert Brown-
ing's lengthy poem “In a Gondola , ” a celebration of passionate kisses aboard that craft.