Even in Venice...Just The Transport is Different and other Venice, Italy Local Custom Tips

I am sure you have been told that everything in Venice moves by boat and ultimately this probably is correct. But, not everything at every point along the way travels on the water. Case in point are these unfortunate but none the less indispensable necessities.

As we walked along a narrow calle in the eastern end of Cannaregio we began to pass the open doorways to many small woodworking workshops. Just ahead we were startled to see what appeared to be two unattended departed souls. With some relief we realized that the caskets were, in fact, new (and unused) and parked outside a local casket shop. No bronze sarcophagi these. These were finely crafted, hand made and wooden. Beautifully finished and ready for delivery...via hand cart.

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I have to admit that both Carol and I are closet voyeurs. We love getting a peek in behind the slightly ajar door or the undraped window. We don't climb over fences or use a telescope but if we are walking by and a glimpse of real life presents itself...we need to take a look.

Our hotel in Venice was located in Dorsoduro so on the night we arrived we decided to stay local. It was a perfect evening so we headed for the Zattere, the quayside which runs along the southern edge of Dorsoduro. It was along here that by law, in the 17th century, all the wood that came to Venice was to be unloaded. Consequently, most of the buildings along here are warehouse structures now adaptively reused for a variety of purposes.

As we walked along we observed a man washing off a small boat at the edge of the promenade and...he was working outside an open doorway. To quote Howard Carter to Lord Carnarvon, a peek inside revealed "...wonderful things!". Stacked like dinner plates on a rack was a spectacular array of wooden boats. With the permission of the gentleman outside we went in for a better look. The boats were beautifully finished and clearly well cared for. They were variations of gondolas and other Venetian regatta racing boats. On the side wall was a collection of forcole (the oarlocks used on gondolas), woodworking tools and even a straw gondoliers hat. This was a boating inner sanctum.

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This is what I I had been waiting for! Carol and I had purposefully kept our vacation schedule loose. Aside from hotel reservations we really didn't have to be anywhere at any given time...that is, except for 10:30 AM Tuesday morning in Venice.

I love trip planning and research...what can I say, I've been called the Gray Geek more than once. In the lead up to our trip to Italy I came across a fantastic site (other than VT's of course) called the Venice Blog. Wonderful insights not easily found. It was here I discovered the American Gondola Builder in Venice. In 1996 Thom Price received a Watson Foundation grant to go to Venice and learn how to build gondolas. At the end of his grant he decided to stay in Venice and the rest, as they say, is history.

Turns out that it's not very easy to actually watch a gondola being built as the local boat builders are not quite as welcoming as the local glass blowers. Thom Price on the other hand was willing to open his squero or boat building workshop for occasional tours. Now, I have been a woodworker all my life building furniture, musical instruments and even a spiral staircase, but this was something else. The opportunity to see a gondola in its skeletal form, to observe firsthand techniques developed over centuries by master boat builders and to meet a young man who followed his dream as unlikely as it may have seemed...this was not be missed.

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Website: http://www.squero.com/index.html

This is Saverio Pastor and he is a master. He is the sculptor of an essential component necessary for the propulsion and maneuverability of a gondola...the fòrcola. Its purpose is to provide a fulcrum point for the oar. I had first heard of fòrcole while watching a Public Broadcasting Corporation program staring Nathan Lane in which he toured Venice's Grand Canal as a Main Street. During the program he visited a fòrcola workshop and I was hooked.

The fòrcola is carved from a single piece of walnut or cherry wood into a wide variety of shapes and sizes. As Saverio explained, the different shapes depended on the intended use and the type of gondola. Some fòrcole had two or three oar positions (see photo) which in effect acted as sort of gear changes for racing boats. The fòrcola which Saverio is working on in the photo is intended for a wedding gondola which Carol and I thought was romantically appropriate for us and...what we could afford.

The process of ordering one of these unique art works takes a bit of faith. Saverio writes your name and email in his notebook and explains it will take about three months at which time he will send wire transfer info because no, he does not take Visa. Then you go home and wait. Eventually, three months later I received an email which said, "I am ready" with his bank numbers listed. On faith I wired the money and lo one week later FedEx delivered our very own fòrcola. Perfect and fantastic!

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Phone: (0039) 041.52.25.699
Website: http://www.forcola.com
Other Contact: email: savepastor@libero.it

Out for a stroll

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