Venice Water Taxi

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Photo by: Justin Ratcliffe

It's hard to think of a place with quite so much waterborne traffic as Venice, Italy. Besides the ferries, or vaporetti, and commercial barges, or topi (meaning water rats), the police, ambulance and fire services — not to mention the traffic cops — also get around by boat. Although the gondola might be the most iconic Venetian watercraft, it is now a touristic curiosity from the days when aristocratic families vied for the most ornate personal transport. With the invention of the internal-combustion engine, traditional gondolas were superseded by elegant motorized runabouts, which developed into the motoscafi, Venice’s classic water taxis (see the complete photo gallery here).

My visit to Venice during the Festa del Redentore reminded me of just how central the canal system is to the city’s way of life. This festival takes place each June to celebrate the end of the plague in 1576. The highlight of the festival is a truly impressive fireworks display, and preparations begin early in the morning when Venetians start decorating their boats. At sunset, the St. Mark’s basin in front of the famous square begins to fill up with small boats of every conceivable kind, festooned with bunting and balloons, all jostling for the best positions, while thousands of Venetians await the fireworks with picnic dinners on their boats, accompanied by a bottle of wine — or two.

I was lucky enough to be in a prime position to witness all this, aboard an open runabout owned by Andrea Tagliapietra, who manages the eponymous family-run boatyard, founded by his father in 1976 on the island of Giudecca in full view of St. Mark’s. Boatbuilding runs in the family, and his grandfather learned his trade at the historic Cantiere Navale Celli, constructing wooden mine sweepers and other fast craft (including Niniette, a motorboat powered by a 200-horsepower Bugatti engine that claimed a world record in 1931 with a speed of nearly 63 miles per hour). Today, the Tagliapietra yard, where Andrea started working at the age of 16 for his father, who still takes an active role at 69, is one of just a handful of yards remaining that specialize in building and restoring taxi-style launches.



“The original taxi boats were completely different from the ones we know today,” explained Andrea from his office above the yard, where sketches on his desk rested under a fine dusting of mahogany from the shop floor below. “The engine was mounted forward because of the need to accommodate a long drive shaft, and the driver was seated farther aft behind the big foredeck.” Indeed, below us sat just such a design built in 1983 — thought to be the last of its kind in Venice — now privately owned and awaiting restoration.