Striking Gondoliers Dent Romantic Hopes

It should have been the most romantic weekend of the year, but star-crossed lovers hoping for a romantic glide down the canals of Venice could not hire a gondola for love or money.

All 400 of the city's gondoliers began a three-day strike on Saturday - just as the city began to fill with couples taking a Valentine's break - stranding passengers and briefly blocking the Grand Canal with their ancient vessels in protest at a ban on gondolas during the morning rush hour.

The ban, one of a number of traffic controls introduced to prevent accidents on the city's increasingly busy waterways, means gondolas must stay parked from 1am to 10.30 am.

City authorities say the risk of collisions, which have sent several passengers including a baby overboard in recent years, is highest during the morning rush hour when scores of motorised boats and waterbuses are ferrying goods and commuters across the city's canals.

But the gondoliers say they are being unfairly picked on.

"We really can't see how rowing boats can constitute a danger to water traffic," said Roberto Luppi, president of the gondoliers' association.

Mr Luppi argues that motorised boats, which do not face the same restrictions, are the real danger. There are too many of them, they break speed limits and they make waves, he argues.

"The Grand Canal has become a motorway," he said. "They go down one-way canals the wrong way. No one respects even the basic rules any more."

Rather than ban gondolas, the gondoliers argue, Venice authorities should be policing the waterways better. They have threatened to continue their industrial action, snubbing tourists and only providing public service traghetti (waterbuses), for up to a week.

"It's not because we don't like tourists," said Mr Luppi. "We ask their forgiveness but we are in a battle to protect this city."