History Walks in Venice

Cura gattoli — drain cleaner — Zompini — Arti #38

Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 38 - Cura gattoli - street cleaner

The cura gattoli were the workers cleaning the drains in the alleyways.

A gatolo (plural: gatoli, also: gattoli, gatoi) is a drainage canal, in particular under the pavement of the calli in Venice, but also inside the walls for sewage and rain water. They are essential for draining off rain water.

The people doing this would be poor, and in the engraving it does look like the man is asking for alms from the wealthy passers-by.

The Arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia (1753, 1770, 1785, etc.), by Gaetano Zompini (1700–1778), contains sixty engravings of common, mostly poor people, peddling their trades on the streets of Venice in the mid-1700s.

Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 38 - Cura gattoli - street cleaner
Gaetano Zompini – Arti che vanno per via – plate 38 – Cura gattoli – street cleaner
Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 38 - Cura gattoli - street cleaner - coloured
Gaetano Zompini – Arti che vanno per via – plate 38 – Cura gattoli – street cleaner – coloured

Text

Co xe l’alba per tute le contrae
I gatoli curemo dal sporchezzo;
E se mantien le strade ben netae.

Translation

When it is sunrise in every district
We'll clean the drains from dirt;
And the streets are kept nice and clean.

All images

Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 38 - Cura gattoli - street cleaner (38) - study
Gaetano Zompini – Arti che vanno per via – plate 38 – Cura gattoli – street cleaner (38) – study
Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 38 - Cura gattoli - street cleaner - coloured
Gaetano Zompini – Arti che vanno per via – plate 38 – Cura gattoli – street cleaner – coloured
Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 38 - Cura gattoli - street cleaner
Gaetano Zompini – Arti che vanno per via – plate 38 – Cura gattoli – street cleaner

Venetian Stories

Related images

A watercolour of two workers emptying a cesspit or burial at night. One is standing in a hole in the ground, while handing a bucket to a helper on the ground. Behind the helper, there's a wheelbarrow and an oil lamp to give light. Some bricks are lying on the ground, along with various digging tools.
Two workers emptying a cesspit at night
A watercolour of a man, seen from the side, with a large brush and another tool, both on long sticks, carried over his shoulder. He wears a green coat and breeches, a green waistcoat, black hat, grey socks and black shoes. A thin robe, in a hank, hangs from his belt.
A chimney sweep of Swiss origin (mid-1700s)
Gaetano Zompini - Arti che vanno per via - plate 01 - Scoa Camin - chimney sweep - coloured
Gaetano Zompini – Arti che vanno per via – plate 01 – Scoa Camin – chimney sweep – coloured

Bibliography

  • Zompini, Gaetano. Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia inventate ed incise da Gaetano Zompini, Aggiuntavi una memoria di detto autore. Venezia, 1785. [more] 🔗

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