Capitolo 3 The handycraft and the gondola

1 - The "remeri"
pag.  1 

	If the main structure of the gondola is executed in the "squero" by squeraroli and carpenters , other parts more or less important of this boat are made by other artisans, in other workshops or laboratories. Let us now see who are these artisans:
That of the "Remeri" is one of the most ancient corporations in Venice	To build the oars and the "forcole" requires great skill and ability, for this mere specialists dedicate to it, called "remeri". The oars must be of beech and are taken from wood of old seasoning. As they must have a shovel very large, one reproduces on the lenght of the staff a tapered strip called "coltello", that is, that is to say, with a thickness increasingly minor from the bottom to the top( the knife, precisely.The dimensions of this addition have a very great importance for the rowing, as they allow a proportionate effort.
	The "forcole" can be till 4 in a gondola, but the one that has the greatest importance for the propulsion is that of "stern". It is made in an only piece of walnut, like an arm folded as an elbow, almost as a right corner, raised to present the support fork for the oar, 40 cm. from the gondola side. With its special form, it allows to vary in many ways the positons of the oar. The image aside reproduces the traditional nomenclature of the forcola and is taken from a text by Gilberto Penzo in collaboration with Saverio Pastor.