The gondola was in very bad condition as it had been in an accident with a motor boat that had destroyed the bow. Later it was abandoned and was wasted in various points. The iron bow was missing as other pieces.
Several people and experts came to see and give us advice. Gianfranco Munerotto, author of the book "La gondola nei secoli" told us that the gondola was about 70 years old.
The photos below were taken in February 2011:
In the meantime, the gondola was left abandoned to the elements and suffered further deterioration, so, in June 2012, I decided to undertake the restoration (although I had not little doubt of the outcome).
You can see some details of the most damaged at the time of starting work:
The backbone of the boat was the first to recover. In June-July two-thirds of the "piane" were replaced by new in oak wood and various "sanconi" were replaced or reinforced:
I also started work on rebuilding the bow adapting it to an old iron in the meantime recovered:
Not having an indoor space, I put up a makeshift tent under which I worked every time flipping the boat on the side where I had to work:
Reinforcing "piane" and "sanconi" bow (october 2012) with redossi in oak wood:
Repairs on Sercio (May 2013) with replacement in larch wood:
After application of the primer on the hull (July 2013):
The gondola is finally over (August 2013), its overall length with the iron is 11.18 m:
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here some of the friends who have helped me in the restoration
September 2013, Franco Bognolo designs and manufactures the oarlock ("forcola") of the "pope", made with oak wood:
March 15, 2014. After about 600 hours of work we can finally do the launch of the gondola:
Testing the gondola:
Thanks to Franco, Damiano, Mauro, Giuseppe, Omar, Inusa and all others who have helped me to accomplish this feat.
March 22, 2014, Public presentation of the gondola with a procession of boats:
March 13, 2015, on the gondola, the Doge of Venice and the Dogaressa visiting Padua:
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