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| Look closely at the gondola to the back. The prow shows the Venetian flag. |
Venice. The city of romance. And the city of those gondoliers. How does one get to be a gondolier? It's not as easy as donning a black and white stripped shirt and building up your bi & triceps.
- First of all, it's expensive and competitive. Only 425 licenses are granted. Each license costs 700,00 euros.
- Then you must join the gondolier guild.
- Because it's such a tight-knit community, licenses are generally passed down from father to son. If no son exists, then the license may be sold. Not until 2010 had a woman ever been a gondolier. Giorgia Boscolo broke the glass gondola ceiling.
- To become one, the man must attend 400 hours of instruction and pass navigational and physical tests.
- Gondolas must be black. At the prow of each gondola is a silver flag representing the six districts of Venice. Five prongs of the flag point forward, one back, this rear-facing prong represents the island of Giudecca. This, more or less represents the geographical layout of the districts.
