On the days of the Republic, gondoliers and boat men made up the ‘fraglia dei barcaioli’, that is an association furtherly divided into many ‘fraglie de tragheto’. The members defined themselves as ‘fradei de tragheto’, that is ‘brothers of the ferry’ with its specific magistrates whose head was called ‘gastaldo’ who carried out different functions such as: sending the members' names to the “Provveditori”(Municipal Officers), running the association and representing it, summoning and presiding over the ‘capitoli’, that is the meetings, having the general and above all the single ferry regulations respected.
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Mariegola (List of Rules) free translation
In the 18th century every ferry set down a ‘Mariegola’, that is a code of behaviour that had to be approved by the city-hall (Municipal) Officers (Provveditori) before becoming effectful. The articles in it stated the competence boundaries of the ferry, the behaviour that the members had to adopt, the fines that had to be applied to trepassers, and the tariffs. The Mariegola in the website is the one of the ‘Ponte della Paggia’ (Strawbridge) ferry; here follows some items:
The boundaries are set by the ‘Ponte della Madonna’ (Our Lady bridge), by ‘Ponte di San Provolo’ (St. Provolo), by the ‘Zitelle’ (Spinters), by San Giorgio Maggiore (St. George), by the ‘Ponte della Canonica’ (Presbytery).
Trespasser will provide half a pound of oil.
Ferry members who don't respect the Gastaldo will get a 3 lira and 2 coins fine.
Ferry members who don't light the lamp for Our Lady will provide half a pound of oil.
Ferry members who threaten colleagues will get a 16 coins fine.
The tariff for the crossing from St. George to St. John is 4 coins if the weather is fine.
Later on things have changed a little, the running of the ferries were entrusted to the ‘bancai’ who had to render an account to the Municipality. Among their duties they had to get their members to respect discipline, acting as internal policemen; if some member broke the rules, they could sanction them with the so-called ‘levo di volta’, that is, up to five days', suspension from work. Obviously it was possible to appeal to a board ‘banca aggiuntiva’, made up of one ‘bancal’ and two gondoliers adjointly appointed by the selfsame ‘bancal’ and the suitor.
From 1926 to 1959, ‘bancai’ were elected, at the Municipal police station, in March and, after receiving the mayor's go ahead, they were in office for one year. Nowadays the ’bancal’ doesn't enjoy that autonomy and power of decision any more, since at present municipal disciplinary regulations are on.
For a long time the gondolier's license was issued by the Municipal Authorities, and it was granted to people with special requisites since, the gondolier, was in charge with a public service. Such a licence could pass from father to son but, most gondoliers were able to get it through a long appenticeship as substitutes for old retired gondoliers with no sons or with sons not interested to take on their father's job. When the licence owner died, the Municipality got the licence back and gave it to the first name in the pretendants' list. The candidate had to face an exam, the so-called ‘oar test’, during which he had to show his skills: if he passed it, he could act as ‘substitute gondolier’. Such a transition period could last as long as over a decade during which he worked using the resigning old gondolier's gondola to whom he had to give 70% of the money gained as lifelong compensation; furthermore, when the latter died, the widow would get it for 18 months. For a ‘substitute’, the first period was quite hard since he worked in the farthest ferries where his earnings were, low and highly reduced by the “compensation” due to the licence owner. At last, when the substitute's turn came, he obtained his licence and became a prorer gondolier and, in the long run, he would work in more and more exclusive ferries.
At present, things have changed furtherly; the candidate gondolier has to pass the ‘oar test’ and buy the licence straight from another gondolier who now can sell it together with the place he takes, besides, the number of licences allowed by the Municipality has increased. For those reasons the ‘substitute’ has nearly disappeared, a youth can obtain in a very short time what, just some time ago, used to cost long years of sacrifice and abnegation.