Image: San Trovaso Squero in Venice, Italy
We’re starting a new segment here on Beers & Beans – travel photo of the week!
I realized when going through some old images this past week that there are so many good photos that never really get highlighted on our site and I thought I’d change that.
Some of our loyal readers may remember the Somewhere In Time portfolio (my personal travel collection) but in the past year I’ve had a hard time keeping up with it since the images really mean a lot to me and thus are much more involved (editing/writing). I’m also really choosy about what images will fit in the Somewhere In Time portfolio and so the whole process is much more time consuming that it appears. Believe it or not, I think about so much that sometimes it keeps me up some nights knowing that I’m so behind on it. So now that we are starting off a new year this is what I’ve decided to do:
I’m reviving the Somewhere In Time portfolio but now it will be a monthly piece instead of weekly and in the weekly slot I’ll feature another cool image. Fun!
These weekly photos will be great images but just not as involved as Somewhere In Time so I’ll be able to keep up with them and I’m also pretty excited to feature some of my lesser known images that I still really like! To me, these are the images that everyone (i.e. the general public and my mom) will like. Somewhere In Time images are much more personal and not liked by everyone (i.e. my mother who doesn’t ‘get’ some of them). If my images were in prison then these weekly images would be the general population and the Somewhere In Time images are solitary, if that makes sense to you – great! We are on the same page and I hope you like them too! 
About This Image:
The squeri are workshops in Venice where gondolas are made and maintained. These days only two of them still exist in the center of Venice: San Trovaso and Tramontin. San Trovaso Squero is not only legendary in Venice but quite picturesque as well. I stumbled upon it one night when strolling around but I learned a little more about on the ThatsVenice website which states:
“Indeed, each gondolier has his own gondola and each boat is customized to its gondolier, to his weight and height – indeed, it is no coincidence that the weight of the iron bow varies according to the size of the gondolier and serves as a mass balancer. Also the steering position, the oar and the forcola where it rests are designed and manufactured considering the height and the arms of the gondolier. This need to customize gondolas is not an artistic habit, but rather responds to its peculiar navigation technique based on arm strength. This technique is very complex and relies on experience and direct knowledge of the routes, channels and pitfalls, however, quite different from any other traditional navigation mode.
Even today, gondolas are manufactured without design drawings but only relying on personal knowledge and the experience of shipwrights, their children and their students. Assuming that the average life of a gondola is about twenty years, to maintain the current fleet of five hundred vessels twenty to thirty gondolas are built each year, and this is precisely the work carried out by the last five Squeri in Venice: in addition to the already mentioned Tramontin in Ognissanti and Manin’s San Trovaso, the other Squeri are: Square Bonaldi in Ognissanti, in close proximity to Tramontin; Crea and Costantini – De Rossi in Giudecca.
Manin work cooperative squero di San Trovaso is probably the best known because of its central location on the Grand Canal and the antiquity of its site that dates back to the mid- 17th century. Since the late 1900s, the squero has been managed by Gastone Nardo and his son Ettore, shipwrights grown in the Tramontin workshop and heirs of the historical art of gondolas construction.”
Want more travel photos? Check out our other weekly travel photos or for more emotionally charged photos head over to our Somewhere In Time gallery.
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