A boat shaped by a city
The gondola is the traditional rowing boat of Venice, a long, slender craft used in the city’s canals and lagoon. Its shape, its single oar and its famous dark colour all have practical or historical reasons, and together they make it one of the most recognisable boats in the world. Venice was built on islands in a shallow lagoon, where small boats were the main means of getting around, and the gondola is one of several traditional lagoon boats that evolved to suit the water.
Early history
The word gondola appears in Venetian documents from the 11th century, and a reference dated 1094 is often cited, although the earliest gondolas were not necessarily identical to the modern type. Early gondolas were probably more varied and less refined, and there are depictions in paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries that show a boat related to the later one. The development from the early boat to the modern form took place gradually, and the exact steps are not fully documented.
At the height of Venice’s power, the gondola was a common means of transport for people of many ranks, and Venice is reported to have had a very large number of them, though estimates from the period vary widely and should be treated with care. The city was also a naval and trading power whose shipbuilding centred on the Venetian Arsenal, but the gondola was built in smaller private yards called squeri, which specialised in these boats.
The asymmetrical hull
One of the gondola’s most unusual features is that its hull is not symmetrical. The left side is somewhat wider and fuller than the right, so the boat’s shape is slightly curved along its length, with the bow and stern bending a little to the right. The effect is that the boat tends to be balanced against the push of a single oar worked from the right side. A gondolier standing at the stern and rowing on one side would normally turn the boat in the opposite direction, but the asymmetry offsets this tendency, letting the boat travel in a straight line with little correction.
The exact amount of asymmetry is a matter of the individual builder’s craft, and the shape is refined by long experience rather than by calculation. A gondola is long, typically about eleven metres, with a flat bottom suited to shallow water and a high, curved bow and stern.
The forcola and the oar
The gondola is rowed standing, with the gondolier facing forward. The oar does not rest in a simple pin or rowlock but in a carved wooden fitting called a forcola, mounted on the side of the boat. The forcola is a sculptural object, traditionally carved from walnut and shaped with several curves and notches. Each notch provides a different position for the oar, allowing the gondolier to row forward, steer, brake, turn sharply or go astern with one oar. The forcola is commonly described as being tailored to the individual gondolier, and the craft of making them is a specialised one.
This system is a distinctive solution in the broader field of oared boat design. A single oar on a pivot gives a narrow boat a great deal of manoeuvrability in tight canals.
Colours, ornaments and the law
The black colour of the gondola is probably its best-known feature. A common account says that the Republic of Venice issued sumptuary laws, rules limiting luxury, with a decree in 1609 requiring gondolas to be painted black to restrain the competition in display between wealthy families. Whether the rules came all at once or in a series is less clear, and historians treat the story with care. What is clear is that the Republic repeatedly tried to limit extravagance in dress, in buildings and in boats, and that dark colours became the norm.
Decoration was restricted as well. The cabin on a private gondola, called the felze, a small enclosure with sliding shutters, gave passengers privacy and shelter from weather, and was used for much of the gondola’s history before falling out of use in the 19th century. On the bow is a metal ornament called the ferro, with a distinctive curved shape. Traditionally it is said that the six prongs represent the six districts, or sestieri, of Venice, but this is a traditional explanation rather than a documented origin. The ferro also served as a counterweight for the gondolier standing at the other end. It sits among other kinds of ship ornament, such as the ship figureheads of larger vessels, but is much more restrained.
Decline and survival
Motor boats arrived in Venice in the 20th century and took over most of the city’s everyday transport. Water buses, taxis and delivery boats now do work that gondolas once did. Gondolas remain in use as a tourist attraction and for ceremonies, and for the traghetti, the small gondola ferries that cross the Grand Canal at certain points. The number of working gondolas is far lower than in the past, but the trade of the gondolier is still regulated and passed down through training.
The gondola’s survival owes much to Venice’s identity as a city on the water. The same Adriatic trade and Mediterranean seafaring that built the city’s wealth also gave it a taste for boats that were both useful and decorative.