The Burchiello
In
ancient times, Padua and Venice were connected by typical river boats, called
Burchielli.The Burchiello was a wooden boat to carry passengers, with an elegant cabin, decorated with mirrors, carvings of great value, colours and with three or four balconies,
carved
in a refined way. It was driven by the power of the wind or by the oars
in the lagoon and then drawn by horses from Fusina to Padua, along the Brenta
Riviera.On board the Venetian "Dolce Vita" took place: noblemen and ladies, adventurers and canonicals, actors and artists created a particular and picturesque environment that made the trip pleasant to local and foreign travellers.
Perhaps any other boats had not a huge literature as the Burchielli, described for four centuries by Italian and foreign poets and novelists as Goldoni, Casanova, Byron, Goethe, Montaigne, D'Annunzio...
Goldoni
described the Burchiello in one of his popular short poems, dated 1760:
Musa, cantiam del Padovan Burchiello la deliziosa, comoda vettura, in cui per Brenta viaggiasi bel bello dal gel difesi e dall'estiva arsura...
Parlo di quel vaghissimo Naviglio di specchi, e intagli e di pitture ornato, che ogni venti minuti avanza un miglio, da buon Rimurchio, e da Cavai tirato
The fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, after Napoleon's coming, the end of the Venetian patrician power and of the pomps in the villas of the hinterland marked the end of the journey for the Burchielli.
In 1960 the Tourism Provincial Authority decided to restart the interrupted
service to offer the tourists the splendid sight of the seventy villas that
stand from Padua to Venice, along the Brenta Riviera and that are linked
to renowned artists as Tiepolo, Palladio, Veronese...
A
Venetian white "vaporetto" was used for this purpose and it was called Burchiello.At the end of the 80s that vaporetto was broken up but at the same time many shipping companies were born and they did trips from Padua to Venice and viceversa by the Burchielli.
Today there are more than ten Burchielli that sail along the Brenta Riviera; every boat has a different name, but each one does the same journey of the ancient venetian burchielli of 1700, carrying thousands of tourists to visit the villas of the Brenta Riviera.
