Squero de San Trovaso

Squero de San Trovaso stands beside the Rio San Trovaso canal in Venice’s Dorsoduro district. Its wooden buildings bring a rustic, almost mainland character to the city’s stone and brick surroundings. Since the seventeenth century, this working boatyard has built and repaired watercraft, now focusing mainly on gondolas.

Craftspeople make each gondola largely by hand, using several kinds of wood and traditional techniques passed through generations. Months of work shape the boat’s balance for Venice’s shallow canals. Water beside the workshop allows new gondolas to launch and older ones to arrive for repairs.

San Trovaso church stands directly beside the yard, creating a striking meeting of timber construction and classical architecture. The sixteenth-century church replaced an earlier ninth-century building and contains works by Tintoretto. Together, the canal, wooden workshop and church show Venice through craftsmanship, religion and life on the water.