Description
The Squero di San Trovaso is one of Venice's oldest boatyards, along the Rio di San Trovaso: one of the few still at work, where gondolas are built and repaired.
What you see is the yard as it has been for centuries: the sloping slipway running down to the canal to haul the boats out of the water, and the 17th-century wooden house, with the canopy called a tesa where people worked sheltered from the rain. The building looks like a mountain house, a rare sight in the lagoon.
That is no accident: many of the master boatbuilders came from the Cadore, where the timber came from too. Sandolos, puparinos and other Venetian boats were once built here as well. The word squero comes from squadra, the carpenter's square, one of the tools of the trade, and the Venetian song “Invito a Venezia” mentions this very squero.
What you see is the yard as it has been for centuries: the sloping slipway running down to the canal to haul the boats out of the water, and the 17th-century wooden house, with the canopy called a tesa where people worked sheltered from the rain. The building looks like a mountain house, a rare sight in the lagoon.
That is no accident: many of the master boatbuilders came from the Cadore, where the timber came from too. Sandolos, puparinos and other Venetian boats were once built here as well. The word squero comes from squadra, the carpenter's square, one of the tools of the trade, and the Venetian song “Invito a Venezia” mentions this very squero.