Several gathered to watch as mother-of-two Giorgia Boscolo, 23 years old, went to work on Thursday.
After completing her apprenticeship and taking the final exame Giorgia became a fully fledged approved Venice gondolier -the first woman to ever do so.
The ANSA news agency reported that on the first day a licensed male gondolier helped with the task of ferrying residents and tourists from the San Toma jetty. Giorgia was dressed in the traditional white-and-blue stripped shirt and black trousers and matching shoes. All as the gondoliers' code requires. The non-regulation gold nail polish gave this particular gondolier an extra touch of shine.
''On board there are curious passengers, but above all there's the happiness of someone doing a job she always dreamed of,'' Boscolo said.
Boscolo inherited her passion for navigating Venice's canals from her gondolier father, Dante, when she was seven.
''I've always loved gondolas, and unlike my three sisters I preferred to punt with my father instead of going out with my friends,'' she said last month.
She dismissed concerns from male gondoliers that she isn't strong enough to handle the 11-metre-long, 500-kilogramme boats, saying ''childbirth is much more difficult''.
Before the establishment of the 'school' for gondoliers, the profession was passed down from father to son.
Two other women hoping to enroll on the course failed to match Boscolo.
Neither Alessandra Taddei, a local woman who belongs to the Venetian rowing club, nor German-American Alexandra Hai, who has fought a 12-year battle for the right to become a gondolier, passed the test.
Even before the official course was launched in 2007, Hai had taken the gondoliers' test four times, steering her boat along canals and performing tricky manoeuvres. But each time she failed, saying that examiners were ''overly strict''.
She has accused the 425-strong association of Venetian gondoliers of deliberately keeping her out because of her sex, but the association has refuted this claim fiercely, saying she simply isn't good enough.
Hai, 42, did however win a small victory when a court upheld her right to ferry hotel guests about in a gondola even though she has no licence. She is employed by a Venetian hotel to offer precisely this service.
There are 40 places on the gondolier course, which lasts six months.
It includes 400 hours of instruction in using the distinctive single oar that is used to propel a gondola through the water.
Students must learn how to steer the banana-shaped boats from the back and the front. They also have to take English courses, study sailing law and demonstrate perfect knowledge of Venice's canals and landmarks.
