Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-05-15

que saw tive rhte3l iHt F"A - II. - ~,
| lConsil.iio del Dioci) decided 10 acquain
| Themselves With the arts OF Il bOatinh
| md for The public welfare imposed
| sppcin tariff on every fraternity. an
woe to the boatman who tried to cheat
Like their rondolas which were painie
IN bright colors. the bontincn wcr
dressed In beautiful costumes particular
ly those Of the patrlcan houses. In ven
lee gonlolas and bOutmen took the place
OF the carriages and horses Of other as
| tficts tsuerzoni In his work entitle'
Piazza al lutte le profession del monde
| tells ns that the bOatfncn OF the fifteenth
century were low despicable people
capable of anything, but we. think -, ~
took too cruel q view OF them. ll'
| l.ondolas and gOndOiers as We know IN
! spircd men Ike Goethe. Byron. Georg'
| Sand, De Musset, Gauticr, Horace
Brown aud many more.
| IN 1904 IN the diploma of Vital Faliert
| the word gondola II FIRST mentioned, and
| In 1900 a boat, twenty-five feet long
/ rowed with twelve oars Is thus called
Little by little Il changed form, keep
| ing only the head at the poop and PROV
and became slight and elegant Tbs
''fezc" the pnce where the passengers
sit was open ut first aud then became
closed In the sixteenth century Condo
las were beautifully decorated with vel
vets and silks and the costumes Of the
rowers were picturesque and costly.
Attic Farfattl studious writer on
Venetian customs says "Gondolas, and
boatmcii are mixture of the regal and
fantastic BE us little poetical as you
like. but the lovely moonlight Venetian
nights, the splash of the oars Ia the
silent lagunH, must take You Into q
world not your own; be an enemy TO all
that Is romantic, but the sky, the water
and the delicate skiff iioutlug along
with the masculine figure OF the boat
man stnnding upon the unsteady poop
must speak TO you Ia language not
generally used"
The gondola has inspired poets who
write OF love; songs abound written in
that sweet Venetian dialect, which Is so
charming In the mouth OF woman. V.
MAlamnni, in volume entitled I'll
Tettecento IN Venezia," Cfhe eighteenth
century in Venice) has published an
entire collection of these poems They
all cNhale a freshness and sweetness
that cannot be translated.
Nowadays every thread Of tradition Is
rapidly being lost, the Venetian marie
COLE have not been consulted since 1896
and the modern bontinen differ greatly
from the ancient, u we except those of
the patrlciam houses, who are privileged
people. At present, au fond, the Condo
of yelling like creatures possessed by
the devil, but incapable of doing harm
to anyone,
The wit of these boatmcn is peculiarly
pungent aud often cuts liRc razor. a
foreigner who arrived In Venice wished
to go TO friends abode, but had for
gotten his address. He got into the gon
dola and ordered the man to take him to
ST Moses; when he got there il did not
"A him ri Shit uffnr searching
vain he went to 81. Paul, with the same
result. then OIL he went To another Of
the various quarters of Venice, oil named
after some saint. After some hours, the
boatlnan looking at him quizzingly said
In ycgna conf paron, Ia lassa far ami.
Come with me, sir, | will manage for
you) He took him to AN Saints"
whore, arrived he said laying down his
oar, qua Ia liga TUT, Ia cor ca che Here
they all are, and you can find what you
want)
The boatman who can stammer few
words of French and tries thus TO at
tract foreigners in another type; II the
supposed foreigner answer In pure Nene-
tinn dialect that he does not want q
gondOln, he abuses him and uses bad
language. Curiously enough. Golduni,
the great Venetian drauatlst. writes
little about gondoliers in his plays,
Alcssandro Lauchi has comedy Ian
Regatta NenezianH,' written in ISL
and then later on Giacinto Gnllino wrote
the "Morosa della Nona," Cfhe Grand
mothers Lover. Piecardo Salvatico,
"Recini da Festa.' The figure of the
old gondOler * u real chef d'euvre.
Cossa In Cecilia puts the boatinan of
the fifteenth century on the stage and
Giovanni Poraii sings about them In
the sweetest verse
Amongst celebrated boatmen. true
heroes Of the oar, Venice records Tus-
can't, Vendetta, Hanchi, Noltolina, Spag-
nOlette. rondo. Saba. One sees them
in pictures and hears them Ia tales and
higher aud become poets and literary
men on their own account. Thus In the
last century, one Antonio Bijunchi Is
mentioned MS the author of poem In
octave rhyme and In the present century
Antonio MaselicO, who is still living,
read, studied aud commented the Divinia
Commedia He afterwards Travelled
throughout Italy holding conferences on
his favOrite poem. Antonio MaschiO is
no longer bOatman, but follows his
studies as custodian In. the Toscarini
lyceum.
Another Venetian custom. now dying
out, or rather which Is not celebrated
with the pomp aud solemnity of bygone
years, are the regattas, These regattas,
Nhlllfu iNun Aut hHNltui ANulln ana
Greek boat races, were held by the fra.
ternities Of the boatmen and soon inn
passl0ncl the people. In 1900 is men.
toned the first official regatta In Venice.
Then the regatta was raced with galleys
and later on this custom served as a
spur for the training Of crews
With the change of the times and the
Transformation Of the gondola, the re-
gattu became matter of racing be-
tween the gondoliers In which one WED
with another This gave sort of pres
tige TO certain bOatnen whose families
preserve iealously all that once belonged
to some famous ancestor, such as Hays.
prizes, poetry, manuscripts etc. On
solemn festivities all these things are ex-
hihited on the facade Of their houses 10
remind their descendants of their glory.
The gondoliers who took part In the
first regattas were not dressed IN COS.
TIME, they only wore pair of thin and
very short trousers and many-colOred
handkerchief on their heads. Later on
they Wore splendid costumes aud this
splcnd0r was REELECTED IN those present
who filled the boats which We're decor.
rated with velvet and silk.
The place wherc the regatta occurred
was the Grand canal. rendered mnrniti.
cent by its suburb patrlcian palaces and
its noble and majestic buildings. 'rhe |
balconies aud windows We're decorated
with bright hrocades and the immense
crowd grouped on the banks and bridges |
and even on the roofs increased the
pageant.
The most celebrated regattas that