The black gondola that stands for timeless Venice is largely a 19th century redesign shaped by tourists. Built for a lagoon of shallow mudflats and deep channels, it has a flat, keelless bottom that can slip sideways, and a single unfastened oar that is rowed, not poled. The hull is deliberately lopsided, wider on the left, to counter one rower on the right, and the walnut forcola works like a gearbox, letting the gondolier push, turn, brake, or reverse depending on the notch. In the 16th century some 10,000 brightly decorated gondolas crowded the canals until sumptuary laws ordered them all painted black.

Older gondolas had lower prows, often two rowers, and a felze, a small cabin whose louvered shutters gave us Venetian blinds. Visitors complained the cabin blocked their view, so it disappeared, and builder Tramontin created the sweeping banana shape in the 19th century before the city froze the design in the 20th. Even the ferro’s supposed symbolism of the districts and the Grand Canal was attached later to a counterweight. Today only about 400 licenses exist, and the job has slowly opened up, with Giorgia Boscolo licensed in 2010 and Alex Hai becoming Italy’s first openly transgender gondolier in 2017.

• A modern gondola costs around 38,000 euros, weighs 350 kilograms, and takes about two months to build.
• Its 280 handmade pieces use eight woods, including mahogany, cherry, elm, oak, and walnut.
• Trainees log 400 hours over at least six months and are examined on history, landmarks, languages, and handling.
• A licensed gondolier can earn up to about $150,000 a year under a strict dress code.
• Mark Twain, Gilbert and Sullivan, and a U.S. Gondola Nationals in Providence helped spread the boat worldwide.