Carrello (handcarts in Venice)
As Carrelli or carrelli a mano , also Carretti be, apart from the general importance for a variety of carts, handcarts referred, organized by authorized facchini in Venice's historic center are used for cargo transport. Because of the numerous and multi-level bridges, they have structural, and because of the narrowness and the dense pedestrian traffic, legal peculiarities.
Construction
The load rests mainly on the main axle, the front support wheels are used to push the cart forwards over the depth of the next higher steps until the wheels of the main axis can be placed on the previous, lower steps. The transporters ( facchini , trasportatori ) make themselves noticeable with loud shouts like “attenzione” or “gamba”.
A carrello crosses the Rialto Bridge
Legal framework and history
In order to keep the annoyance of pedestrian traffic as low as possible, but also to enable oncoming traffic to pass each other in the narrow streets, the city administration decreed that these carrelli a mano (handcarts) have a width, including the axles, of no more than 80 cm. Furthermore, the carts must be equipped with rubber tires on both the main axle and the front support wheels in order not to stress the ground too much and to reduce noise. The facchini are obliged to handle the barrows with great care in order to avoid damage to people or property. In order to allow a minimum level of control, there has long been a simple approval process, i.e. H. a corresponding application must be submitted to a police station. However, only 40% of the applicants were Venetians in 2014, most of them are now Bengalis who work in the transport of suitcases. While the Venetians charge 5 euros per suitcase, those who do not have a license take amounts well below that. They mainly work on the arrival points of tourists, but they are now also hiring hotels, which means that the carrelli in the tourist market in the city center are also under pressure, while all other transports are still in the hands of the Venetians.
The use of barrows is prohibited in the arcades around St. Mark's Square . Between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., carts are not allowed to be transported in certain streets around St. Mark's Square (e.g. Mercerie, Frezzerie). Passing through many of the narrow streets is impossible.
The carts must have a plaque with information about the owner and his place of residence. The transport of loads over the width of the cart is also prohibited, as is parking on public roads, even during the night.
Facchini and her carrelli were already subject to legal interference in the Austrian period between 1814 and 1866, as they formed a kind of control unit. Normally, goods calculated according to volume, such as grain, were broken down to their weight using a table in order to be able to levy appropriate taxes on their weight for import and export. The same applied to the control of smuggling, whereby the facchini were granted a certain amount according to their number, which they were allowed to import or export. So they only paid a minimum fee , namely 5 carantani on import and 25 on export per hundredweight. In order to simplify the procedure, the levy amounted to two such units per carretto and one per facchino .
The facchini , who usually picked up the cargo from the boats or at the marketplaces and transported it to the buyers of the goods, were mostly specialized in certain goods, such as those that only transported wine barrels. They found themselves exposed to increasing competition in the 19th century, because many from the poorer regions of the Veneto migrated to Venice and worked there as facchini , especially since only a carrello was required as an initial investment.
Web links
- Venice ABC , points of contact. The communication initiative for architects
Remarks
- ↑ sospetto racket dei facchini indagini sul boom di licenze in: Corriere del Veneto, August 16, 2014.
- ↑ Raccolta di leggi, notificazioni, avvisi ec. pub. in Venezia dal giorno 24 agosto 1849 in avanti: giuntivi quelli emanati nel regno lombardo-veneto dal 22 marzo 1848 , volume 4, edition 1, 1854, p. 140.
- ^ Glauco Sanga: Famiglie alpine lombardo-venete tra otto e novecento , vol. 38 (1998), p. 8; La Ricerca folklorica 37-38 (1998), p. 9.