Providing hotels, bars and restaurants, delivering furniture and express parcels, organizing a funeral or simply doing maintenance work in Venice is not like doing it in other cities. Venice is a city of water that has preserved, in the urban structure a centuries-old history of commerce and culture, cultivating its medieval and Renaissance practices, but also a unique road network in the world, consisting exclusively of water channels.
​There are 410 permits to transport things for third parties, or 410 boats that daily make the city live, unraveling between the lagoon traffic, missing landings and cramped channels. And if the city has passed from the 174,000 residents of 1951 to the current 54000, the companies that have to move in Venice must face the needs of an ever-increasing number of tourists, which is about 7 million (2017 figure) and facing, in addition, to the timely deliveries of giants such as Amazon, Ikea, Unieuro, Zalando and many others. Deliver the goods so that the charm of Venice, in the presence of residents and tourists, remains intact but has its costs. According to the Confartigianato di Venezia the average cost of a lagoon transport is 40% higher than ground transportation. This increase is to be subdivided on several fronts, due to the unique structure of the city. First of all the interchange that takes place at Tronchetto, the main terminal of the city, where perishable goods, foodstuffs and express deliveries are loaded by the carriers on the boats. Then the work of porterage, where the workers disentangle themselves with the carts in the streets and on the bridges to finally deliver orders to the sender. Lastly, the cost of personnel that provides a greater number of operators for the single delivery due to the incredible manual work required. It should be noted that the figure of the transporter in Venice is not considered a weary job. The companies also complain of a lack of suitable structures in the city to facilitate the work at best. The loading and unloading approaches are often occupied by other boats and the Tronchetto, the main interchange terminal, has no cover. The loading of goods takes place in this way without protection from atmospheric conditions, with the risk of damaging the packaging. Despite all the difficulties, the passion of transporters for their work is boundless. They are for the great majority of Venetians because, as they explain, we must have been born in this city to grasp the dynamics in their essence, to know the most hidden corners and the order of the civic numbers. And for how much effort and how many unexpected events should be faced, the sense of freedom in navigating in the lagoon, passing under the Bridge of Sighs, approaching Piazza San Marco or enjoying the Giudecca's climate is priceless for them.