Ironically, the gondolier, in many instances throughout the day, often substitutes the logistical shortfall of the Council fulfilling various the various tasks often expected to be done by the Local Policemen.

The first and most important of these is to give information to the tourist.

In fact, despite the fact that the Municipality of Venice is the annual meta for about 12 million tourists, has a police force that is drastically undermanned, that is revealed in all its inefficiency with tourists left pretty much to themselves.

The only element that is identifiable in the urban landscape, due to their uniform, is the gondolier, who is literally bombarded by tourists ñ often uncivil and rude ñ requesting all sorts of information.

Human politeness often has its limits, and the gondoliers often try to affront with dignity the heavy duty of giving information to tourists, which should be the job of the ungrateful local council authorities who only make themselves visible when they want to create problems for this category.