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Maurizio Ulliana has a passion for restoring Venetian boats. He is expressing this passion, this autumn, by making a sponsored row from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, to Little Venice, London, in a gondola.

Appropriately, 2016 is the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare, so Maurizio calls his project “Shakespeare in Gondola”, SiG. The gondola is a slow boat, although heartbreakingly beautiful, and the distance of the trip is 210 miles. There are many miles to row, and many locks to negotiate. At two miles per hour there will be 105 hours of rowing. Each lock will take about twenty minutes to transit, and with 176 locks to pass, this adds 59 hours to the journey. The total journey is therefore the work of a whole month.

The boats Maurizio is restoring are classic barges and vessels of the canals north of Venice in the Veneto region. Examples are a comancina called “Salute” and a burcetto called “Rialto”. His boat restoration group is called “TVB”, Traditional Venetian Boats and is based in Padua. Padua is graced by one of the oldest universities in the world (founded in 1222). Padua was the setting for “The Taming of the Shrew” and nearby Verona provided Shakespeare with the backdrop to “Romeo and Juliet” and, of course, “Two gentlemen of Verona”. Venice is 24 miles away.
 
The gondola Maurizio will use is a traditional one from Venice, used in Venice from 1986 to 2003 for conveying visitors through the Venetian canals. Since then she has performed for four years on Birmingham canals, nine years in Oxford on the rivers Thames and Cherwell, and a month in Versailles. She is called Marisa Cristiano, after the wife and the son of the gondolier who had her launched on New Year’s Day in 1986. Cristiano is now a gondolier operating from in front the magnificent Danieli Hotel in Venice.

Maurizio departed from Stratford on Sunday the 18th September and will be passing through Warwick, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Windsor, Teddington and Brentford, on his way to Little Venice at Paddington, where he hopes to arrive in mid October.

His UK mobile phone number is --- and a good time to talk to him is after dark when rowing is done and the gondola is moored. Texting is OK anytime. Venetian rowers can join Maurizio for a day or more, and passengers can hop on and off, as it suits. Donations are invited, and welcome.

Electronic donations can be received at: Banco della Tre Venezie, Padova branch, Italy
IBAN code: IT57 UO33 6512 1000 0000 0001 776.   Credit to: TVB, Traditional Venetian Boats 

Maurizio Ulliana, Padova (Padua), gondolier,  email: maurizio.ulliana@gmail.com
Richard Bailey, Oxford, boat owner, mobile:

 email: richard@oxwise.co.uk
26 September 2016

Maurizio Ulliana has a passion for restoring Venetian boats. He is expressing this passion, this autumn, by making a sponsored row from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, to Little Venice, London, in a gondola.

Appropriately, 2016 is the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare, so Maurizio calls his project “Shakespeare in Gondola”, SiG. The gondola is a slow boat, although heartbreakingly beautiful, and the distance of the trip is 210 miles. There are many miles to row, and many locks to negotiate. At two miles per hour there will be 105 hours of rowing. Each lock will take about twenty minutes to transit, and with 176 locks to pass, this adds 59 hours to the journey. The total journey is therefore the work of a whole month.

The boats Maurizio is restoring are classic barges and vessels of the canals north of Venice in the Veneto region. Examples are a comancina called “Salute” and a burcetto called “Rialto”. His boat restoration group is called “TVB”, Traditional Venetian Boats and is based in Padua. Padua is graced by one of the oldest universities in the world (founded in 1222). Padua was the setting for “The Taming of the Shrew” and nearby Verona provided Shakespeare with the backdrop to “Romeo and Juliet” and, of course, “Two gentlemen of Verona”. Venice is 24 miles away.
 
The gondola Maurizio will use is a traditional one from Venice, used in Venice from 1986 to 2003 for conveying visitors through the Venetian canals. Since then she has performed for four years on Birmingham canals, nine years in Oxford on the rivers Thames and Cherwell, and a month in Versailles. She is called Marisa Cristiano, after the wife and the son of the gondolier who had her launched on New Year’s Day in 1986. Cristiano is now a gondolier operating from in front the magnificent Danieli Hotel in Venice.

Maurizio departed from Stratford on Sunday the 18th September and will be passing through Warwick, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Windsor, Teddington and Brentford, on his way to Little Venice at Paddington, where he hopes to arrive in mid October.

His UK mobile phone number is 07391 031298 and a good time to talk to him is after dark when rowing is done and the gondola is moored. Texting is OK anytime. Venetian rowers can join Maurizio for a day or more, and passengers can hop on and off, as it suits. Donations are invited, and welcome.

Electronic donations can be received at: Banco della Tre Venezie, Padova branch, Italy
IBAN code: IT57 UO33 6512 1000 0000 0001 776.   Credit to: TVB, Traditional Venetian Boats 

26 September 2016