Claims nepotism rules aboard gondolas of Venice as families keep grip on trade

In the canals of Venice, gondola families are keeping a firm grip on a trade that nets up to $165,000 a year.

A gondolier rows his gondola in a canal in Venice. Picture: Supplied

The clash between meritocracy and keeping family traditions is a perennial headache in business.

It has taken on extra significance in Venice, where gondoliering has been passed from father to son for 1000 years.

Yet a new rule making it even easier for the children of existing gondoliers to obtain a lucrative licence to join the ancient profession has prompted allegations of nepotism over a job that can bring in more than $AU165,000 a year.

The ruling by the city authority allows gondoliers’ offspring to skip a challenging theory exam, which includes foreign languages, to win the chance to steer the sleek black boats along the canals of Venice. They will still need to pass the practical exam. Divide Scano, a councillor, said the change would further exclude outsiders. “We are ushering in the dynastic right to a licence,” he said.

Aldo Rosso, a former examiner, said that outsiders were already marked down in tests to allow gondoliers’ children to score more highly. Being able to talk with tourists should be a job requirement, he said. “You need those languages,” he added.

A gondolier wearing a face mask (Rear) transports his very first customer as service resumes at the San Toma embankment on a Venice canal on May 18, 2020 during the country's lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection. Picture: Andrea Pattaro/AFP

The 433 gondoliers have 200 substitutes, who take over when there are shortages from illness or holiday. When a gondolier retires, the licence can be passed on to a chosen substitute, which is likely to be a child.

Sole female gondolier

Only one gondolier is a woman, whose father was a gondolier.

A half-hour ride costs $AU131 or $AU164 at night. Mr Rosso said that gondoliers could earn more than $AU165,000 a year. Andrea Balbi, head of the association of gondoliers, denied that nepotism played any part in the rule change. “Sons can only avoid the exam if they have spent four years working with their fathers,” he said.

‘Not a closed shop’

“I am not the son of a gondolier, nor are more than half of Venice’s gondoliers,” he said. “This will never be a closed shop.”

Mr Balbi said it was crucial, however, that the tradition could continue to be passed on from father to son.

“Every gondolier has a personal rowing style he will teach his son, so you can take one look at how a young gondolier rows and guess who his father is,” he said.

Aldo Reato, a former head of the association, agreed. “A traditional trade should be handed down the generations,” he said. “Isn’t that what tradition is?”

Maurizio Carlotto, the deputy head of the organisation, started teaching his son Giacomo to row when he was ten. “He will take over from me,” Mr Carlotto, 59, said. “Being a gondolier is in your blood. Customers always ask, ‘Are you the son of a gondolier?’ That’s what they want.”

The Times