A Gondola, Venice · Travel Poster

Not just a view, the heritage behind it. Ella writes about the place, its hidden history, and the details that never make it into the guidebooks, all printed on the poster.

Every gondola in Venice is black, and that's a rule, not a style choice. By the mid-1500s, wealthy Venetians had turned their private gondolas into floating status symbols, gilded, painted in family colours, dripping with decoration. In 1562, the city government had had enough and passed a law forcing every gondola to be painted plain black, no exceptions, to put a stop to the competitive showing off. Four hundred and sixty years later, the law is long gone, but the tradition never left. Every gondola on the canals today is black because Venice once got tired of its rich people showing off.

An original illustration, available in colour or black and white, created for the Ella's Adventures travel poster series.

No frame included.

Please note that, to protect the original artwork from copyright infringement, the images shown on this website are low resolution. The poster you receive is printed in high resolution, with all the detail and clarity of the original.