Flappers & Fiction

Herbert Pierson traces the evolution of Venice’s iconic gondola from primitive dugout canoes to the elegant craft of today. Beginning with refugees fleeing Attila who founded Venice in the lagoons, the gondola developed slowly over centuries to meet the unique requirements of shallow-water navigation. Through periods of republican splendor and baroque excess, the boat’s distinctive ferro prow and felse cabin evolved alongside Venetian society. The author chronicles how government regulations curbed extravagant decoration, ultimately producing the sleek black gondolas that remain virtually unchanged since the republic’s fall to Napoleon.