Here Today, Gondolier Tomorrow!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare 1595)
The sun sinks below the horizon as you drift romantically along the Grand Canal, the gentle splash of an oar gliding through the water as the city basks in glorious pink and orange hues. Before long the sky will become an inky shade of blue, twinkling with a million stars for you to wish upon.
This is the beauty of Venice.
If Music Be The Food of Love, Play On (Shakespeare 1600)
The glorious sound of an aria floats on the breeze, the dulcet tones of a Gondolier lost in a moment of romance, dreaming of the opera, yearning for his lover.
It is there that his heart lies.
Not here on the canal.
The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare 1596)
Handing down baton from father to son the gondolier is mysterious, hardy, tough.
He is ‘elite’, a special agent of the Venetian waterways.
His job is not easy, it requires style, a sense of fashion, a love of stripy shirts and straw boaters.
Constantly in the spotlight, he must look the part, be poised for action, be camera ready.
Because the paparazzi await, hiding around every corner.
All About That Bass (Trainer 2014)
Forget the four hundred hours of training, the intense studying, the need for a decent pair of sea legs.
And what if Venetian history’s not your strong point?
Don’t worry.
It’s all about the bass, the baritone, the opera singing.
Best not mention the ice-cream though.
Money, Money, Money (Abba 1976)
He’s got the looks, the voice and the gondola, and if he’s really lucky, he might be in with a shot at the big prize: 150,000 dollars a year (Explore Italian Culture 2020).
The pay’s really not too bad for someone who spends their days ‘messing about on the river’ (MacRae 1962).
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel 1970)
He spends twelve hours a day, every day, standing up precariously, navigating narrow waterways and dodging repeated requests to sing ‘Just One Cornetto’ (Walls 1982).
Then somebody steals his hat.
It’s a step too far.
But that’s the ‘tourist season’ for you.
A Man’s World (Joss Stone 2004)
It’s a competitive business — gondoliering. Only three to four candidates make the ‘new gondolier’ grade every year. And practically none of them are women.
Except one.
‘Today, Giorgia Boscolo, the daughter of a gondolier, remains the only female in the profession that has been almost exclusively male for a thousand years.’ (Got My Backpack, 2020)
Just like a man, Boscolo trained hard to earn her licence to ride; just like a man, she undertook an apprenticeship before going it alone; just like a man, she studied the history and landmarks of Venice before passing an intense exam. (JP Linguistics 2016)
But unlike a man, I cannot confirm her annual income. I can only assume that as she does the same job as a man, she’ll be paid like a man as well…
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen 1980)
Gondoliers are hungry — feeding off the grand halls of Venetian Opera Houses since the ‘Teatro San Cassiano’ opened its doors to paying customers in 1637 (Teatro 2020).
Their food of choice? ‘The great arias which they would then sing to each other on the canals.’ (Robinson 2020)
‘Song runs in the very blood of the Venetian.’ (ProQuest 2002)
Sail Away (Enya 2009)
It’s the twenty-first century and opera no longer reigns supreme, except when you are drifting along the Grand Canal, listening to the gentle splash of an oar gliding through the water as the city basks in glorious pink and orange hues.
Then, occasionally, you may hear the hypnotic sound of ‘O Sole Mio’ (di Capua 1898) drifting on the wind, reminding you of the dulcet tones of a Gondolier lost in a moment of romance.
And if you suddenly feel like an ice-cream, that’s fine, so long as it’s not ‘Just One Cornetto’…
Reference List
“A Man’s World.” Uploaded by nadine89er, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDjNyK0KqmE Accessed 04/12/20
“All About That Bass.” Uploaded by Meghan Trainor, 11 June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk Accessed 04/12/20
“Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Uploaded by Simon & Garfunkel, 16 April 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-YQA_bsOU Accessed 04/12/20
“How to Become a Gondolier.” JP Linguistics, 2016, https://www.jplinguistics.com/italian-language-and-culture/2016/8/29/how-to-become-a-gondolier Accessed 04/12/20
“Hungry Heart.” Uploaded by Bruce Springsteen, 26 June 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boJhWtw-6Gg Accessed 04/12/20
“Just One Cornetto.” Uploaded by Landy Lady 2017, 20 February 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c54DL0DxZVA Accessed 04/12/20
“Messing About on The River.” Uploaded by John MacRae, 11 October 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixu2gVfvSSA Accessed 04/12/20
“Money, Money, Money.” Uploaded by Abba, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0 Accessed 04/12/20
“Musical Life in the Venice of Casanova.” ProQuest, 2002, https://search.proquest.com/openview/72f3d9849b67b11d1de7544768b3cf38/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1821602 Accessed 03/12/20
“ O Sole Mio.” Uploaded by Debolina Dubois Bandyopadhyay, 7 May 2014 Accessed 04/12/20
“Orinoco Flow (Sail Away).” Uploaded by Enyatv, 27 October 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrk4X9ACtw Accessed 04/12/20
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Independent Publishers, 2020
Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Oxford University Press, 2010
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Wordsworth Editions, 1995
“Ten Things You Never Knew About Gondolas.” Myra Robinson, 2020, http://myrarobinson.info/venice/ten-things-you-never-knew-about-gondolas Accessed 02/12/20
“The First Opera House.” Teatro San Cassiano Ltd, 2020, https://www.teatrosancassiano.it/ Accessed 03/12/20
“The Italian Gondola Driver or Gondolier.” Explore Italian Culture, 2020, https://www.explore-italian-culture.com/gondola-driver.html#:~:text=This%20is%20one%20of%20the,earn%20around%20%24150%2C000%20each%20year. Accessed 03/12/20
“17 Interesting Facts About Venice You Probably Didn’t Know.” Got My Backpack, 2020, https://gotmybackpack.com/destinations/where-to-go/facts-about-venice-from-a-venetian/ Accessed 03/12/90
