Twenty-Two Degrees to Port

photo by Greg Mohr

Walking around the iconic Squero San Trovaso, I came upon this gondola which the workers there (known as "squerarioli") had tipped over onto her port side for maintenance.

Looking at her straight on from the front, I saw a gondola from an entirely new angle (something that doesn't often happen for me),
and I had to snap a picture.

As I stared at the photo later, I couldn't help but wonder
what the exact angle might be.
A little creative work with a protractor,
and I believe the angle to be 22 degrees from the horizon.

Oh, and that unusual conglomeration of stuff in the right-hand side
of the frame is very unique to Squero San Trovaso - you can see
 another angle of it in my post "The Wall at Squero San Trovaso"

If you want to see a larger version of the above photo, click on it.
There's so much to take in with this image.

The Wall at Squero San Trovaso

There are many things about Squero San Trovaso
that set it apart from other gondola yards.

It's by far the most photographed squero in Venice.
All the guidebooks include it as something to see that's truly Venetian.

It's an active yard, with something to see just about any time you stop by to watch.  Some activities can easily be seen from across the canal
(where most of the tourists go to peer across the water).
Seeing a couple guys turn a gondola up on one side by hand or a group of workers wrestle a boat out of the water on rollers are good examples. 

Other things are best appreciated from inside the place.

I should make it very clear, however, that most outsiders should not try
to get into the squero unless involved with a film crew that's made prior arrangements.

Remember - these guys are workers.
They've got work to do.

Imagine if a bunch of tourists with cameras decided to just "show up" at a construction site and try poking around, or if they stepped out of the elevator at a law firm and started trying to chat people up about "what it's like to be a lawyer".

However, if you're a gondolier who has a Venetian friend, the right attitude, some photos of your boats on your phone, and some lucky timing - you might just manage to get in the door.

I'm posting a few different photos here this month from just such a visit.

Walking around (and trying to stay out of everyone's way), I noticed a certain wall, which I'd seen a few hats on in previous years.

It was clear that the wall had received some attention since the last time I'd been there.

My friends, I give you: The Wall.

 

I imagine it started with one or two hats, and, well,

somewhere things got serious.

 

Now it reminds me of an old restaurant that my folks took me to

as a kid called "Bobby McGee's".

The only thing missing is a bent trombone and an old baby carriage.

 

What a beautifully chaotic work of art.

 

 

Just the Photo - San Trovaso Still Life

Under the Roof in San Trovaso

Venturing into the shop at Squero San Trovaso, 

I saw this beautiful wedding gondola, with the light from outside bouncing off of all her carvings.

There are only a handful of gondola yards in Venice.

These operations are usually specific to the gondola – as she is built and maintained using methods and materials that date back a century or more.

A “squero” takes it’s name from one of the tools that gondola builders use to measure with (a sort of “builder’s square”).

Squero San Trovaso seems to be in almost all the tourist guidebooks and is by far the most photographed of all the gondola yards in the city.

A lot of the work at Squero San Trovaso takes place outside, 

but there’s room for a few boats in the shop to receive extra special attention – no matter what the weather conditions may be.

Swingin' by San Trovaso

photos by Andrew McHardy

 

 

Gondolier, world traveler, Kiwi, and candidate for "most interesting gondolier in the world" - Andrew McHardy is back in Venezia.

 

He's been up and down the city's canals for two days now (taking to the water just as soon as he landed).

 

Here are a trio of shots he sent me of the famous Squero San Trovaso.

 

 

Just the Photo - Squero San Trovaso

photo by Tim Jones

Here's a nice shot taken recently from across the canal of 
Venice's most well-known squero.

The early boat builders in Venice were not from the lagoon - they were mountain people.
They came from the same place the wood came from.

That Tyrolean heritage is visible even today, in the architectural style of the buildings at Squero San Trovaso.

Attention to the Details of the Tramontin Sandolo

 

A while back I posted about a beautiful new passenger sandolo in Canada (see "Carved Boat in Canada").

The owner of that exceptional boat just sent me these images, which give us an idea of how hands-on the Squero Tramontin was with this sandolo.

 

As she is a full fledged passenger vessel, she has all the parecio,

including the "pusiol" armpieces like the one above.

 

 The oars for this boat were made in Squero Tramontin.

 

These beautiful forcole were also reportedly crafted by the men who built the boat.

 

Often these pieces of rowing hardware are made by a separate craftsman known as a remer, but as you can see, Tramontin tended to every single detail.

 

Including the chairs.

 The chairs begin as a stack of wood, which is trimmed down into specific pieces that fit together like a puzzle.

 

 All those pieces are put together with a special glue, and then the whole thing is clamped together from what looks like just about every angle.

 

The end result is a pair of chairs that are specially built to fit next to each other with an arm on each side.  I was told that they arms were meant to be on the outsides so the whole thing is like a love seat, but I can see how swapping sides can be a better choice if the two passengers seated aren't a couple (or aren't on speaking terms).

 

As the first sandolo to come out of the Tramontin yard in fifty years, clearly they were determined to dictate every single detail.

 

The boat is beautiful, and I understand that the owner, Lorne, has taken over one hundred cruises since he launched her earlier this year - lucky couples, all of them.

Squero Canaletto - Half-Size Gondola Project

photos courtesy Joe Gibbons

Here's a set of photos from a few years ago, when Venice had another squero.

This one was different from the others - it was run by Thom Price, and had a number of other squerarioli from different places. 

Squero Canaletto wasn't in operation for more than a few years, but they made an earnest effort, and some interesting things came out of there.

Joe Gibbons from Boston sent these images.  This may have been the most unique boat to come out of the Squero Canaletto.

Joe writes:

"Thom Price was building a half-size gondola for a boat show in Venice. Showcasing squero Cannalletto. The building is not the squero - the maritime museum hosted this event."

Building a half-size gondola, right there on the museum floor is a pretty eye-catching move, and it looks like they definitely got people's attention.

Mathias Luhmann working on a piece before fitting it to the gondola.  Mathias has been seen here on the Gondola Blog - see "Sochetto in Squero Canaletto" from August of 2008. 

Thom and Mathias answering questions from museum patrons, while other onlookers examine the work in progress.

I don't know if this gondola was ever completed.

They can't really be used for passenger service, but it seems like a shame to break apart a project like this halfway through. 

If the boat was completed, I'd love to see her, maybe try and row her.

In the Shop at Squero San Trovaso

photos by Garrett Budwine

While exploring Venice's most well-known gondola yard,

Garrett ducked into the workshop and took these photos.

The Venetian squero takes it's name from a sort of builder's square that's been used by shipwrights in the region for centuries. 

These places are best known for building gondolas, but the truth is that most squeri spend a lot more time servicing existing gondolas than they do building new ones.

Meet Garrett Budwine - who's provided the Gondola Blog with many great photos. This is a nice side-by-side view of a standard gondola (left) and a wedding gondola (right)

Squero San Trovaso has the distinction of not only being Venice's most well-known gondola yard, but also the most photographed.  In fact I've posted lots of my own photos of the place here. 
As a gondola fanatic and a photographer, a place like that is what we might call a "target-rich environment".

Squero San Trovaso - "Stacks for Seasoning"

A gondola building yard in Venice is known as a "squero".
Each one is a separate entity - they are often associated with the families who run them.
Every boat built in Venice represents the craftsmen who built her and each gondola carries on the legacy of the squero she was built in. Family names like Tramontin, Bonaldo, Crea, and dei Rossi are known throughout Venice. Gondoliers can be heard arguing over which is best. They talk about durability, design, finish, and how a boat handles. Each builder does their best to excell in these and other categories. Traditional gondola builders recognize the importance of having the right materials to build from.
Some might say that the most experienced builder, with the best design, and the highest standards...would still put forth an inferior boat with the wrong wood.

Just like their tools, squero owners take their wood seriously, they are particular about things, and will store it on their property to "season" before using it. I'm sure they have interesting opinions about how long the wood should weather, or "rest" before being incorporated into a project.

In the above photo we see a nice large stack of wood resting at Squero San Trovaso. Only the builders know where each piece will eventually end up.

For more information and musings on the subject, see my post from March 1st entitled "Squero San Trovaso - Wood to Weather"

Squero San Trovaso - Even the Pusioli Get Worked On

Walking through the yard at Venice's most well-known squero,
I came upon this arm piece. These things come in pairs - one on each side of the passenger area. Often they are only held in place by the cavalli, which mount to the boat by way of a long rod that fits through each arm piece in the front.

There are many styles of pusioli.
This one looks like it may have come in on the rails of a wedding gondola, or one that's got some luxury appointments.

So while the gondola was being worked on, so was the arm piece, on little saw horses that look like they've probably got some stories of their own to tell.

As far as I can tell, pusioli are purely aesthetic.
Apart from providing a minor level of protection from crosswinds, these arm pieces seem to only be there to dress up the gondola. But they sure do that job well.
Often these and other parecio pieces will continue to dress gondola after gondola, living longer than the twenty to twenty-five years that most gondolas in Venice operate.
But like anything else made of wood, they need maintenance.

Squero San Trovaso - "There's a Hole in the Floor!"

Part of the gondola building and maintenance process requires squerarioli to flip the boat over so they can get to the underside.

You'd think they would do this all above ground, but no, not the Venetians.

They dig a hole in the floor so the whole operation is lower to the ground.

Sure, you could set up planks, and do all your work from higher up, but for various reasons they prefer this method.

I'm just spitballing here, but do you think some old grouchy gondola builder fell off a plank centuries ago and made a new rule from that day forward? It could happen.

With a sprained ankle and a bruised ego, an angry guy with a shovel could dig a hole pretty quickly.

Squero San Trovaso - Wood to Weather

I remember hearing a story once about an old American Indian elder who went into the forest with his grandson to choose a tree branch that they could carve into a flute.
After selecting the right one, they cut the branch from the tree and brought it back home. The boy prepared his hand tools, eager to begin crafting the branch into a musical instrument, but the old man stopped him, saying:
"wait, we need to let the wood rest a while".

When I heard that story I was much younger, and to be honest I just figured it was one of those Native American spiritualism things. Over the years though, as I've spent some time getting to know wood and it's many personality traits, I've realized that there was a much more practical side to what the tribal elder said to his grandson.

Wood grows, solid and strong as part of a living organism.
It is well hydrated, maintaining a certain amount of moisture.
Then, when the tree comes down and the wood is cut into boards, the whole world changes for those tightly knit cellulose fibers.

When wood comes to Venice and is delivered at a squero, the boards are laid out carefully to "season". The squerarioli who use them want to make sure the boards have gotten any movement out of their system. When wood is immediately used, it can sometimes do strange things. It can have a mind of it's own, bending or splitting in ways that could affect the bouyancy of a vessel.

Visit any squero in Venice and you're likely to see wood "resting", before it finds new life as part of a beautiful boat. In english speaking circles some say "let's allow the wood to weather a bit first".

The wood you see in this stack may very well be the same wood you see a few years from now - fashioned into different parts of a magnificent gondola, all black and shiny as she glides down the Grand Canal.

I wonder if it will miss being part of a tree then.
perhaps I'm attributing too much personality to the wood.
Or maybe it's that tiny sliver of Chippewa Indian in me coming out from high up in my own family tree.

Squero San Trovaso - Wrapped-Up Rowing Gear

I've seen this before:
the forcola, remo, and dock-lines from a gondola - all wrapped together.
It's a great way to keep them together, and while a forcola and remo in Southern California are quite unique, in a squero like San Trovaso, I can see the need to keep them together.
Each gondolier has his own rowing gear.
Imagine how easily a forcola could get lost in a place like San Trovaso or one of the other squeri.
Rowing clubs often do similar things to keep the rowing gear for each boat together.

If you have a sharp eye, you might be able to spot the lucky horseshoe in the shot.

Squero San Trovaso - Balcony in Bloom

Here's a shot I took of the residence in Squero San Trovaso in spring. Just like the mountain homes in Il Cadore, the balcony has flowers along it's rail.

Squero San Trovaso - the "Gondola Dolly"

Here's an item you won't see for sale at your local hardware store. I'm going to call it a "gondola dolly".
I'm sure it can be used for many things, but I shot this photo in Squero San Trovaso, where it was being used to move boats around.

I remember Joe Gibbons of Boston described these things to me once after visiting a squero on La Giudecca. Joe said he watched the squerarioli as they lifted a gondola onto one of these.
After that it could be rolled around by one guy without much effort. Two little wheels on a crosspiece, and one guy can move a 36' boat anywhere he wants.

A closer look at the ground reveals a Monet-like smattering of paint chips from countless gondolas, which have been built and serviced here since the 17th Century.

I wonder when the "gondola dolly" was invented.

Squero San Trovaso - Architectural Evidence of Il Cadore

photo by Garrett Budwine

Centuries ago in Venice all boats were built from wood, and a lot of that wood came from a mountain region in the Veneto known as Il Cadore.
This alpine setting was home to a hearty people with a strong heritage in woodworking. Not surprisingly, when the wood came down from Il Cadore, so did some of the people.
Their natural ability to work with wood opened them up to great opportunities in boatbuilding and other trades.
In fact some of the squerarioli (boat builders) in Venice today are descendants of the mountain people of Il Cadore.
One obvious indicator of this geographic origin is the classic architecture seen in most squeri. While most Venetian buildings are made from brick and stone, the structures of a sqero are predominantly wood.
They look like they came from the mountains...
because the people who built them did.

Poop-Deck Repair

I ran across this repair job in Sqero San Trovaso.
It appears that some of the decking has suffered from rot.
The paper plate had been used to mix and hold a repair compound...but I have no idea what the heck he was using the hack-saw for.

Varnished Fodra

photo by Garrett Budwine
Most fodre are black, some have accents in other colors or in gold-leaf, but now and then we see them varnished.
Garrett captured this great example of such a fodra while exploring the historic Squero San Trovaso.
I wonder how long the intagiadòr (carver) spent on this one piece.

Ferros at San Trovaso

While walking around Dorsoduro, I dropped in on Squero San Trovaso.
Forget anything you've heard about the old squero being deserted or shut down - it's alive and well, with gondolas and other Venetian craft being built or serviced all over the property.

I'm not sure whether they allow just anybody to walk in there. I mumbled something in Italian about having a gondola of my own back in California, and they let me come in. Don't know if they believed me or just thought I was an idiot - either way, it got me and my camera in the door.

Behind the boats you can see the residence.
It has a more Tyrolean style as many of the original sqerarioli came from an area in the mountains known as the "Cadore".
above the residence you can see the campanile of the church of San Trovaso.