Fabrizio –

We met Fabrizio while he was taking a break with fellow gondoliers in the afternoon sun of Venice. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to talk to someone in a purely Italian profession. Fabrizio has lived in Venice for all of his life. We asked him how long he has been a gondolier; he said he started training since he was thirteen. His father retired and he inherited his gondola. He says work is really tough, especially in the summer heat. Powered boats take up most of the waterways now, and the amount of gondolas has been steadily shrinking. Most people, he said, don’t appreciate the romance of the gondola, and simply do it as a tourist attraction. Still, Fabrizio loves his job and wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world.

Remo – oar
gondoliere – gondolier
barca - boat

Marco -

Marco is a bartender at Harry’s Bar, the fanciest bar in Venice. According to Marco, (in confidence) it caters to the “filthy rich.” He proudly boasted to us that the bar’s claim to fame is a drink called a Bellini, which consists of Prosecco and peach puree. We had to try them, and they were delicious. One each and 35,50 euro later, we resumed our conversation with Marco.

He told us that Harry’s serves a lot of famous people, like movie stars or government types from all around the world. He gave us a long and illustrious list of people his bar has served in recent years, including Jessica Alba, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and even Tom Cruise, of whom he was a huge fan. Whoa, wait a minute. We now have two Marcos we’ve talked to now who are huge Tom Cruise fans (if you’ll remember back a few weeks to the owner of the video rental store). Maybe it’s the same man in disguise? Crazier things have happened. In closing, Marco told us that, once, he had made two hundred thirty seven euro in tips and non-optional gratuities in one night while tending bar. We didn’t know whether or not to believe him, but it made us want to be celebrity bartenders, too.

Ricco sfondato - filthy rich
Precedente - former (as in precedente primo ministro)