Squero di San Trovaso

The Squero di San Trovaso is one of Venice's last surviving traditional gondola boatyards, a cluster of low wooden buildings that look more like an Alpine chalet than anything else on the Venetian waterline -- because the carpenters who originally built and staffed it came from the Dolomites, not the lagoon.

The squero is a private business with people doing skilled and occasionally hazardous work a few metres away. It is not open to the public, there is no visitor area, and walking in is not on offer.

Everything is visible from the Fondamenta Nani opposite, which is where to stand. Photographing the yard from there is normal and accepted; photographing the craftsmen at close range from their own side is not.

Fewer than a handful of squeri survive from the dozens that once operated. They stay open because gondolas are still commissioned and repaired -- the trade supports the buildings, not the other way round, and it survives on the gondola service rather than on visitors.

The fondamenta opposite is narrow and residential. It is a good place to stand for five minutes and a poor place for a group to assemble.

The Squero di San Trovaso is a working boatyard, not a museum, and is not open to the public -- the best view is from the Fondamenta Nani, directly across the Rio di San Trovaso, where the yard's open-sided sheds are clearly visible. It's a short walk from the Accademia Bridge, in Dorsoduro.