An American Gondola Maker in Venice

The art of gondola making has been traditionally passed on from father to son. And, since the gondola was uniquely designed to bob about in Venetian waters, the craftsmen have almost unfailingly been Venetian.

But the art is dying out with modernity. It's getting harder and harder to find a squero, the Venetian word for gondola workshop. (One of the biggest remaining squeri is pictured above, near the church of San Trovaso in Dorsoduro. Click on it to enlarge.)

This all makes American Thom Price triplely unique. He's ....
... an American gondola maker in Venice ...
... with no local blood relative to pass him the trade ...
... who -- incredibly -- has opened his own squero in Venice.

This makes him a hero to me.

Visit his deep and fascinating site at squero.com, where you can read his amazing biography and even get a live glimpse of a gondola being built via one of the three webcams he has set up in his workshop.

Thanks to zoomata.com for bringing this to my attention via a recent feature story they wrote.

Comments

[Kurt]

Norman -
Can anyone ring in on gondola rides in the US?
There are two gondolas in the water at the base of the Charles River in Boston and a few more in the Venetian in Vegas, but any others? Just thought I'd throw it out there.
-K

[Claire]

I lived in Zianigo di Mirano (VE) for two years. It's nice to find your blog!

[Sue and Don]

Just catching this site as we are in Venice and wanted to visit a gondola maker/shop... Um we are from Oakland CA and for the past 8 or 10 yrs there has been a gondola service on our Lake Merritt, the oldest bird sanctuary in the country. Angelo is from Venice and wanted to start a gondola service in San Francisco, but they were uninterested. Luckily for us, Jerry Brown was mayor at the time (and its the one good thing he did while in office) and very interested.

Its a lovely thing..... Angelo was whisked away to Ft. Lauderdale for a time, but recently returned with his gondolas to our welcoming city.

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Very cool. Thanks for the comment.

N.