The city of Venice has, in recent days, reduced the maximum amount of passengers which are allowed on each of their famed gondolas, with smaller gondolas now permitted to carry up to five passengers, while larger gondolas are now allowed to carry a maximum of 12 (formerly six and 14, respectively).
While one might assume this decision would come as a result of northern Italy wanting to prevent a second resurgence of the novel coronavirus which ravaged the region just a few months ago, the gondoliers have a different explanation.
“Tourists are now overweight,” Raoul Roveratto, the president of the association of substitute gondoliers, told La Repubblica of the decision to lower capacity.
"When [the boat] is fully loaded, the hull sinks and water enters. Advancing with over half a ton of meat on board is dangerous,” he added.
Andrea Balbi, president of Venice’s gondoliers association, agreed with Roveratto's sentiment, telling the Guardian that “it’s true that compared to 10 or 15 years ago, tourists weigh a bit more."
“Unlike in a lift, where there’s a message that says ‘only six people or a maximum weight’, we don’t have scales to weigh people, and so we reduced the number of passengers.”
Gondolas have been a staple of the Italian city since 1094. The smaller "gondola da nolo" perform a classic tour of the Italian city’s famed canals, while the larger "gondola da parade" is mainly used to take passengers across the Grand Canal.
There are 433 gondoliers and 180 substitute gondoliers operating on Venice’s waterways, with a private tour costing from €80-120.