Saturday, May 19, 2007
International
The battle of the Venetian gondoliers http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/19/stories/2007051900882200.htm
[AT HOME: Gondolier Alexandra Hai at work in Venice, file picture. - Photo: AP]
VENICE: Cross any bridge in Venice and listen for accordion music wafting up from the canal. Look down, and there will be a gondolier plying starry-eyed tourists along the city's narrow waterways.
By tradition, they are stripe-shirted, locally born and male.
But a German woman has won the right to join them - despite having failed the examination to be a gondolier. The Veneto Regional Tribunal has ruled that the Locanda Art Deco hotel, Alexandra Hai's employer, can transport guests around Venice in its own gondola.
It is a ruling that challenges enduring Venetian tradition as much as Italy's resistance to liberalisation of any kind.
"This tribunal has opened a crack that undermines what was the closed caste of gondoliers," said Mariagrazia Romeo, a lawyer representing the hotel in the case.
The issue is not about excluding outsiders, say the gondoliers, but of maintaining traditions that have drawn tourists to their black-lacquered gondolas for generations. For them, the image and uniformity is part of their service.
"It's not like gondoliers want a monopoly," said Roberto Luppi, president of the association of Venice's 425 official gondoliers. "It's about safeguarding long-standing traditions."
Licensed gondoliers have to pass exams in which they have to prove capable of steering the sleek boats along congested canals. They have a dress code detailing even the width of the stripes of their shirts. They must observe rules on how their gondolas are fitted out, down to the colours of the chairs and benches - and face sanctions in case of violations. In return, they charge princely sums to ferry romantics around the city's waterfront palazzi.
There are no rules stating that gondoliers must be from Venice, but the fact is that most of them are.
Mr. Romeo concedes that Ms. Hai failed the exam, officials say more than once. But she does have a boating licence, which so far has been sufficient, and in court documents the hotel describes her as a "capable and passionate gondola pilot."
In the meantime, Ms. Hai is at work on the canals. But if passing the public examination is going to be required, Venice might lose its first woman gondolier. - AP
Copyright © 2007, The Hindu.