Thinking about Venice, the first detail that comes to mind is, perhaps, the typical Gondola, instead of museums, statues or food that the city generally offers to visitors. Gondola has in Venice, the same important role as the Colosseum in Rome or the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Gondola has been one of the main means of transportation in Venice over the last 500 years and it is nowadays used by tourists who want to visit the city from canals; some Gondola are private property of the gondoliers.

Aroud the year 1500, about a thousand Gondola were in use in the city. Today, there are approximately two hundred Gondola navigating the canals of Venice and they look very different if compared to those used in the past. The word "Gondola" was mentioned for the first time in an official document dating back to 1904.

The original name mentioned was "gondulam", that probably comes from the Latin word "cymbula" (little boat) or "cuncula" (a small shell), but these are just theories that do not find official evidence for the moment.

Since there is no useful documentation to reconstruct its appearance, some of the first pictorial drawings of the gondola that gave us an idea of how they looked like came in the late XV° century.

They have been modified throughout the centuries and the modifications were a process of evolution and adaptation to different means of transport.

The first images of a real Gondola can be found in Bellini, Carpaccio and Mansueti's paintings. At first, Gondola was not so different from the other boats, but at the end of XVI° century they started to be slimmer and longer.

Some of them had a "felze", the covering or roof that gave to them the appearance of a water carriage.

These types of gondola were probably realized for the wealthy people.
Throughout the centuries, the gondola underwent further changes and in the XVIII° century it started to look like the boat that we commonly know today.
The black long boat consists of 280 pieces realized with different types of wood. The lenght of the Gondola is 11 metres (36 ft) and the weight is 600 kilos (1,320 lbs). Thanks to its asymmetrical outline, it can be driven with lightness and easiness by a single man with a single oar.

According to Venetian law, only men born in Venice have the possibility to become Gondolier (oarsman). The oar moves inside an oar lock known as forcola, which has a complex shape that allows gondoliers to handle their boat with precision on the Venetian canals, that are sometimes very narrow. It is used to go forward, turn, slow down and row in reverse. The front ornament known as Ferro has to purposes besides being an ornament: the first one is to protect the front from an accidental damage and the second one is to counterweight the front with the back as the Gondolier steers in the back.

A local legend promises eternal love to couples that kiss in the Gondola under the bridges of Venice, especially the "Ponte dei Sospiri".