Servizio Gondola: The Official Venice Gondola Service

“Servizio Gondola” means two different things depending on where you read it. On the Comune di Venezia’s own website it is the name of the regulated gondola service: the official tariff, the rules gondoliers work under, and the list of licensed stands with a contact number for each. On Google Maps it is also a generic pin title that shows up near gondola moorings, with no website, no prices and nothing to book.

This page is published by an independent guide — we are not the Comune di Venezia, the Associazione Gondolieri di Venezia or any traghetto association, and we do not sell the official service. What follows is how to use the real thing and how to spot the lookalikes.

The municipal service: what it actually covers

The city does three things that affect your ride, and none of them involve taking your money.

• It sets the tariff. One price for every licensed gondola in Venice, whatever the stand and whatever the route.
• It regulates the gondoliers. Licences are issued and controlled by the Comune di Venezia: roughly 433 licences, about 400 working gondoliers, around 400 hours of training plus practical, history and language exams. Maximum five passengers per boat since 2020.
• It lists the stands. Danieli, Molo, Dogana, Trinità, Santa Maria del Giglio, San Tomà, San Beneto (Bacino Orseolo), Carbon, Santa Sofia and San Marcuola each appear with a phone number and email — the only official way to reach the cooperative behind a stand.

Extra time is priced in proportion to the time, in the tariff’s own words — there is no published block rate for it, so settle the total before you board. A serenade is not part of the service: musicians ride separately and are negotiated on the spot, typically from €50 per boat. Tips are not expected.

Where the official information lives

The Comune’s Servizio Gondola page is the single reference for the tariff and the stand list, and the Traghetti da Parada page covers the €2 ferry crossings. Both are linked in the sources at the foot of this page. That is deliberately the whole list: there is no official app, no municipal booking portal and no city-run ticket office for gondolas.

Two consequences worth carrying with you. Any site or pin that quotes a per-boat price different from €90 by day is not quoting the official tariff. And any site that sells you a “official gondola ticket” is a reseller — which is fine, as long as you know it and read the cancellation terms.

The map pin, and how to read it

A “Servizio Gondola” pin is a location marker built from generic words. Judge it on four things:

• The bank it sits on. Cross-check the position against the official stand list. Near one of those ten names, it marks a real mooring; anywhere else, it is approximate.
• The absence of a website. No official municipal service advertises itself through an unbranded Maps listing.
• User-submitted hours. Gondolas work to daylight and demand, not to posted opening times.
• Any price shown. A per-person figure means a seller, not a service. Compare it with the tariff above before you commit.

What a visitor should actually do

1. Read the tariff once so you know what a standard ride costs before anyone quotes you.
2. Decide boat or seat. Four or five people: walk to a stand and buy the boat for €90 — €18 each. One or two: a shared seat online is cheaper than half an empty gondola.
3. Pick the stand for the route. Bridge of Sighs from Danieli or Molo San Marco; quiet canals from San Tomà, Santa Maria del Giglio or San Moisè; palaces from the Rialto stands. Detail on where to board.
4. Agree the total and the duration before you sit down, and ask whether cash or card.
5. Time it. Before 10:00 or after 18:00 for quiet water. In summer the day rate still buys golden light at 18:00–18:45, because the evening tariff only starts at 19:00.
6. Try the traghetto for €2 if you only want to stand in a gondola — see our traghetto guide.

Verdict

Servizio Gondola is a rulebook, not a supplier, and that makes it the most useful thing on this list: it tells you the one number every gondolier in Venice has to work with. Use the official page to check the price, use the stand list to check who you are dealing with, and then choose your route rather than your rate. The map pins carrying the same name deserve nothing more than a glance for directions.

Prices checked September 2026. If you want a fixed time and a per-person price instead of a walk-up boat, compare the booked options and the full ladder on our gondola prices page.