Gondola
The long black boat of Venice, rowed standing up with a single oar.
A gondola is about eleven metres long, black and built a little lopsided, so that the gondolier standing at the back can keep it straight with one oar. Its iron prow, the ferro, is said to stand for the six districts of the city.
Once there were thousands; today some four hundred carry visitors along the canals, and a few traghetti, gondola ferries, still take people across the Grand Canal for a couple of euros.
More in Venice
Piazza San MarcoThe only square in Venice called a piazza, ringed by arcades and opening onto the lagoon.
St Mark’s BasilicaBuilt for the relics of Saint Mark, covered inside with golden mosaics.
Doge’s PalaceThe pink and white Gothic palace from which the doges ruled the Republic of Venice.
Campanile di San MarcoThe bell tower of St Mark’s, which fell down in 1902 and was rebuilt “where it was, as it was”.
Bridge of SighsThe covered stone bridge between the Doge’s Palace and the prisons, built in 1600.
Rialto BridgeThe stone bridge of 1591 over the Grand Canal, with shops along its arch.
Grand CanalThe great S-shaped waterway through the middle of Venice, lined with palaces.
MercerieThe chain of narrow shopping lanes from St Mark’s to the Rialto, the race route in the game.
La FeniceVenice’s opera house, which has risen from its ashes more than once, as its name promises.
VaporettoThe water bus of Venice, chugging up and down the Grand Canal from stop to stop.
CarnivalTwo weeks of masks and costumes before Lent, filling the squares of Venice.
Acqua altaThe high tides that flood St Mark’s Square, now held back by the MOSE barriers.