The gondola did everything, even the ambulance.

I am Laura and I live in Venice. In this city, every day, there are moments in which you realize that what today we consider normal is the result of a story much more complex.

The other day an ambulance boat passed with sirens on along the Grand Canal. It is a habitual scene, but I stopped to think about it: before these modern boats, what was there? The answer here is almost always the same: there was the gondola! For centuries it was not only a means to move around, but an indispensable tool for every activity of the city, capable of adapting to everything. It served for working, for transporting people and goods, for accompanying daily life in its every form.

The ambulance gondola

Before the ambulances, even emergencies were managed with the gondola. It was fast, maneuverable, the only means capable of moving with ease among the canals.

In his memoirs, Giacomo Casanova recounts having rescued a nobleman struck by a sudden illness, transporting him by gondola to a doctor and thus obtaining his protection. An episode that renders well the importance of this means even in the most urgent situations.

Living this story today

When one climbs onto a gondola today, one enters into contact with the history of this means and of its relationship with the city, even without thinking about it. It is a gesture that encloses centuries of daily life.

If you want to see Venice from this perspective and truly try it, you can stop by the Gondola Gallery in Campo San Gallo: we wait for you to make you live an immersive VR experience in which you will climb aboard a gondola through the centuries. And then do not miss the possibility to truly see Venice from the canals: we wait for you.