Wanted: Gondoliers in Venice

Venice City Council is calling for applicants for intense training sessions to become gondoliers. The training course includes boat handling, language lessons, and gondolier theory classes.

The image of the striped-shirted, straw-hatted gondoliers who grace the city’s canals is synonymous with Venice. Gondoliers have deftly rowed their way through the city’s narrow canals for centuries. Now, the city is searching for new applicants to ensure the continuation of the much-loved Venetian profession. 

Gondolier Job Requirements

To apply for the job of gondolier, applicants must be over 18, have at least high-school level education, know how to swim, and be in possession of a medical certificate that shows their “healthy and robust constitution”. Applicants must also be able to row, or at least show potential as a competent rower.

Applicants Must Go Through a Rigorous Training Process

Successful applicants must then go through an intense training period. This includes 30 hours of theory lessons. This involves learning the “highway code” that governs the waterways. Applicants will be given English and French lessons, and learn about the history, art, and culture of Venice. A mere 10 hours are then allocated for practical training under the keen eye of a master gondolier. 

Only 433 Gondoliers Remain in Venice

Despite Venice’s reliance on gondolas for over a century, the profession has changed a lot since its past glory days. For many centuries, the gondola was the city’s main form of transport. By the 16th century, it’s estimated that 10,000 gondolas traversed Venice’s canals. Today though, only 433 gondoliers remain. Of these, only 14 are women.  

Gondoliers Must be Multilingual

Venice received an estimated 5.5 million tourists in 2023. This is despite efforts from the city council to curb the influx of tourists by enforcing a tourist entry tax. The reality of the modern-day gondolier is that they serve tourists from every country. However, a working knowledge of English and Spanish isn’t necessarily enough. 

In an incident that went viral in 2023, Chinese tourists, who didn’t understand (or perhaps didn’t listen to) the gondolier’s instructions to sit down, knocked the vessel off balance. Inevitably, all its occupants  ended up in the canal. The solution? Modern gondoliers must also be prepared to learn keywords in non-European languages to avoid such incidents again.

Gondoliers Continue a Centuries-Long Tradition

Successful applicants to the course, which costs more than €1,000, will ensure the continuation of Venice’s most iconic profession. The huge demand for the gondolier course means neither Venice- nor we- need to worry about the profession dying out any time soon.