The gondola is a famous traditional Venetian rowing boat built in wood. The Venetian gondola has today become for millions of tourists, the symbol itself of Venice… The gondola is the only boat in the world that is 11 metres long and weighting 600kg which can be easily manoeuvred with a single oar and by one person only, called gondolier.
But the gondola is also unique for its features: it’s asymmetric and therefore it always sails tilted to one side and it has a flat bottom which allows it to sail on the lagoon bottom of only few centimetres.
Eight different kinds of wood get used for its construction and it actually consists of some 280 parts. The only metal elements in a gondola are the typical “iron part” at the prow and “curly part” at the stern.