DIY Network

Ultimate Gondolas by Squero Canaletto: Thom Price From "Special Presentation" episode DMUW-S

Squero Canaletto, gondola builders.

Squero Canaletto: Exquisite Gondolas

Thom Price
Venice, Italy

Thom Price's workshop -- Squero Canaletto -- is a dream come true. It's a dream that began in 1996 when Thom first arrived in Venice to search for someone to teach him how to build gondolas. At the time, Thom knew almost no Italian, didn't have a place to live and had no idea who would teach him. Yet, according to the terms of his fellowship, Thom had to learn how to build a gondola and actually complete one in twelve months.

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	Thom Price relocated from Bangor, Maine to Venice, Italy to realize his dream of building gondolas using centuries-old traditions.
	Squero Canaletto of Venice, Italy.

A lot has changed since then. (Thom did meet his deadline and build his first gondola within those first twelve months.) Thom Price has built more than a half dozen gondolas since he arrived in Venice. Oddly enough, Thom's first gondolas have ended up in Texas, Boston, Minnesota, New York, California and Florida.

Six years after arriving in Venice, Thom was finally able to work out all the details to open his own workshop. The name "Squero Canaletto" comes from a 1724 painting (Photo2) by the Venetian painter Canaletto of the actual space that Thom's squero (Venetian for "gondola yard") now occupies. A print of the original painting hangs in Thom's office.

Thom's gondola workshop includes a very international crew. Head carpenter Mathias Luhmann hails from Hamburg, Germany. Damiano Carraro and Paolo Pagnin, two young Italians from the nearby mainland and an island in the Venetian lagoon, are apprentices. And Maria Balanos, born of Greek parents, but born and raised in Australia, works to keep the bureaucrats happy and everyone in the shop organized.

In order to build gondolas in the old way of the masters, Thom and his crew have had to invent and modify. They've had to cut through six layers of concrete to cut a hole for the tip of the gondola when they're working on the boat upside down. They're created their own special strongback which serves as the frame for the boat until it can hold its own shape. And, they've had to invent a machine for bending laminated oak strips for the frames in the gondola.

	Thom Price and friends launch the first gondola handmade at Squero Canaletto.

Squero Canaletto: The First Launch

It was a cold, foggy day in January when Thom Price launched the first gondola made in his very own workshop. After all, Venice is on a line north of Bangor, Maine. For Thom, though, the cold and damp couldn't have mattered less. It was a day he had waited almost seven years to see.

Thom and two of his assistants had worked all day and throughout the night to have the gondola ready. After working around the clock, Thom didn't leave the shop until 6:30 the morning of the launch, just to shower and shave before the crowds would arrive.

He returned to find friends and neighbors working in the shop's kitchen preparing food for the crowd that poured in for hours. With the launching only hours away, Thom got help with last-minute adjustments and fittings from former gondoliers and rowers who were arriving for the celebration.

As Thom was receiving well-wishers and their gifts , friends and neighbors helping out with the food told Thom they needed a breadboard for slicing the long loaves into bite-sized portions. Being a woodworker, Thom, white sweater and all, rose to the occasion and made one on the spot.

Despite the cold and fog outside, there was plenty of warmth inside Thom's workshop as his friends and neighbors, knowing Thom had had no time to prepare for a party, kept arriving with food and drink. Even the blessing of the new gondola was provided by one of Thom's friends.

Following the blessing was a successful launch, and then several tests of the gondola by current and former gondoliers and rowers. Everyone approved. The launch and testing completed, lots of singing, dancing and eating continued well into the night.