Wheelchair Accessible Gondola Rides Debut in Venice


Gondolas4all-web

They are used to singing “That’s Amore” as they navigate the picturesque canals of Venice, and now veteran gondoliers Enrico Greifenberg and Alessandro Dalla Pieta are showing that love to the wheelchair community. The two are the founders of the public-private campaign Gondolas4all and on Friday, March 11 they unveiled the first ever access point for wheelchair users to board Venice’s iconic black gondolas.

A large crowd gathered in Piazzale Roma Square to watch 7-year-old Nicholas Pistolato and a few other wheelchair users take their exciting maiden voyage on the classic Italian boat.

A dream of theirs for more than two decades, Greifenberg and Pieta started a crowd funding page in 2012 after witnessing countless wheelchair users miss out on a quintessential Venetian experience. “Enrico and I decided to start this project four years ago,” Pieta said. “We have been gondoliers for more than 20 years and would see people in wheelchairs who wanted to get in the gondola. They would look at us like we were the last bit of water in the desert.”

Garnering support from The Tourism Department of Veneto Region and many other contributors, they raised enough money for the accessible infrastructure, which consists of a special jetty complete with an automatic lift that allows wheelchair users to comfortably embark and disembark the boat without exiting his or her wheelchair.

Over the coming weeks, gondoliers will undergo thorough training on how to operate the lift and the service is set to be available to the public in about six weeks. Wheelchair users can book rides through the tariffs located around the city or by visiting Gondolas4all.com


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