A new restriction will reduce the maximum capacity of the city’s famous gondolas from six passengers to five.
And it is not the social distancing that caused the change: it is the average weight of the tourists who flock to the destination.
“In the last 10 years or so, tourists weigh more, and instead of getting them on a scale before getting on, we are limiting the number,” Andrea Balbi, president of the Venice Gondola Association, confirmed to CNN, explaining the rule.
The change applies to Venice’s quintessential slim boats that glide along the small canals. The maximum occupancy on the largest “stop” gondolas, which serve primarily as taxis across the Grand Canal, has also been reduced, from 14 to 12.
A gondolier opens a kiosk for people who want to go for a gondola ride in May.
Andrew Pattaro / AFP / Getty Images
Balbi said the heavier loads often mean that the gondolas drink water, making it difficult for gondoliers to navigate canal traffic.
Raoul Roveratto, president of the association of substitute gondoliers, a group representing less experienced gondoliers, did not speak in a statement to the newspaper La Repubblica. “From some countries, it’s like loading pumps and when (the boat) is fully loaded, the hull sinks and water enters,” he said.
“Going forward with more than half a ton of meat on board is dangerous,” said Roveratto.
Venice currently licenses 433 gondoliers and 180 substitutes, but has recently reduced the number of gondolas in service due to the pandemic and the sharp decline in tourists.
Gondoliers in Venice must pass a rigorous exam to obtain a license, or use an approved one from parents to children.
They are not the first group of workers in the travel industry to make changes based on the weight of their customers.
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