Smaller than gondolas, "sandoli" are ancient boats that have been used by everyday Venetians for centuries. Today, they whisk travellers to quiet corners Venice where other boats can't go. It is 09:00 in Venice and a peaceful silence blankets the city's narrow streets and canals.
Day-trippers begin to descend on the lagoon, while Luca Padoan leans against a wall near the Rio della Misericordia, one of the canals cutting through the former Jewish Ghetto. As he watches the neighbourhood come alive from behind his sunglasses, a few tourists approach, cautiously asking if they can photograph the handmade sandolo boat moored to his left. "I have always explained that this is not a gondola, but its progenitor," Padoan said, stroking its oar.
While Venice is synonymous with the many ornate gondolas that ply its canals, very few people know about the boat's lesser-known relative, the sandolo, that once populated Venice's waterways. Characterised by a steel "curl" on the prow and typically painted midnight black, these flat-bottomed rowing boats were historically used to navigate the shallow waters of the lagoon and to transport goods and people from Venice to the Italian mainland. "If you do not understand the origin of the city and its evolution, you cannot explain the historical importance of the sandolo.
The average depth of the lagoon [in the past was incredibly shallow]. With a normal boat, you couldn't get there," explained Valentino Scarpa, who oversees the nine stazi (station.