The shipyard or dock of San Trovaso (Italian: Squero di San Trovaso) is one of the most famous and oldest shipyards for the manufacture of boats in Venice, Italy. Located in the Dorsoduro area near the San Trovaso canal. Nearby are the campo and the Church of San Trovaso.
The word squero is derived from the Venetian squara, which means boat-building tool. The very name of the shipyard is derived from the names of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, to whom the church of San Trovaso was dedicated. Over the centuries, the long-pronunciation names of the saints have merged into a single San Trovaso.
The shipyard of San Trovaso was opened in the 17th century. It was built so that its central part faced the facade of the church of San Trovaso. The shipyard is a typical example of a dock where various types of boats of the Venetian lagoon were built and repaired, such as gondola, sandolo, pupparini, sciopon and others. Initially, there were three such shipyards in Venice, but only this one managed to survive to this day. Now only gondolas are produced there.
The shipyard has a rectangular shape and is surrounded by wooden
buildings, a rarity in modern Venice. They are built on a foundation of
split larch, which is covered with clay in several layers. The walls are
also wooden.
The premises of the shipyard have different
purposes: in one part there are workshops, and in the other, families of
gondoliers live for generations.
Initially, the gondola was the only and therefore the main mode of
transport in Venice, ideal for moving along the narrow canals. But today
it has lost its universal role: now gondolas are used extremely rarely
and mainly serve to entertain tourists. In addition, they are the most
expensive mode of transport in Venice.
The construction of the
gondola is a very laborious task: it consists of 260 parts from 8 types
of wood. The production time of the gondola is about three years, and
the cost reaches 30 thousand dollars.
Becoming a gondolier is
also not easy: it requires you to be a Venetian and complete 10 years of
training in order to obtain the appropriate transport license.