Roberto Tramontin has a passion for gondolas in his blood — just like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He is a fourth-generation gondola builder in Venice. His great-grandfather Domenico Tramontin opened his workshop in the district of Dorsoduro in 1884, two years before Robert Bosch founded his “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering” in Stuttgart.

While the latter has become a global company, the Tramontins have since become highly influential in constructing Venetian gondolas. Both success stories are based on the same mindset: “Tradition does not mean you always have to continue your old ways. You have to keep developing in order to improve,” says Roberto Tramontin.