This is regarding “A bit of Venice in Chicago” (Page 1, June 8). Because I am one of the very few Venetians living in Chicago, I want to express my disappointment with Mayor Richard Daley’s new idea: gondola rides down the Chicago River.
The gondola is the final product of a centuries-long development for such a boat to be used in the very special environmental conditions of the Venetian lagoon.
In the two gondola manufacturing facilities still in business in Venice, the gondolas are made using seven types of wood coming exclusively from the forests of northeast Italy. The material and the building methods are the result of centuries of research and extensive technical development. Gondolas are often used as an example of the brilliance of the Venetian naval engineering that, for hundreds of years, has determined the standards for the constructions of war and commercial ships.
To master the gondola rowing method is serious business. It takes years of practice to become a gondolier. Furthermore this job is often handed down from father to son.
The California-made gondolas and the U.S.-born gondolier/singers that we will see on the Chicago River are going to be just a ridiculous “Disney World” copy–just another “americanata,” an Italian word for anything made just to impress, often tasteless, normally colorful and oversize.
Does the mayor really think with all the incredible art, tradition and prosperity of the city he cannot find anything else to attract tourism to Chicago?
