After nine centuries of keeping women on dry land, Venice broke with tradition on Friday by approving its first female gondolier.
Giorgia Boscolo, 23, a mother of two, came through a grueling course, which included 400 hours of instruction, to enter an all-male club that has resisted admitting women.
“I am immensely happy and proud, but today my day starts like every other, taking the children to school,” she said. “I’ve always loved gondolas and unlike my three sisters I preferred to row with my father instead of going out with my friends.”
PHOTO: EPA
She denied that she would not have the physical strength to maneuver gondolas, saying: “Childbirth is much more difficult.”
Venice introduced a gondoliering course in 2007 after centuries during which the trade was handed down from father to son.
Boscolo’s father Dante, also a gondolier, said he still had reservations about his daughter ferrying tourists up the grand canal.
“I still think being a gondolier is a man’s job, but I am sure that with experience Giorgia will be able to do it easily,” he said.
During the six-month course, students learn how to steer their gondolas and must show a perfect knowledge of Venice’s canals.
Another woman taking the course, German-American Alexandra Hai, did not pass muster, despite having spent the last 12 years trying to become a gondolier.
Even before the launch of the official course, she had taken the gondoliers’ test four times, blaming examiners for being “overly strict” when she failed. Hai, 42, won a court battle to ferry hotel guests, despite having no official license, and was employed by a hotel in Venice.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
RSS