Venice's first woman gondolier

Venice is on its way to having its first official female gondolier. City Hall said on Friday that Giorgia Boscolo had passed the practical exam to become a gondolier. Giorgia Boscolo smiles beside her gondola, background, in Venice's Grand Canal, Italy on Friday, August 20, 2010. (AP Photo)

A tourist takes a picture of Giorgia Boscolo, top right, aboard a gondola in Venice's Grand Canal. (AP Photo)

Giorgia Boscolo, left, smiles aboard her gondola in Venice's Grand Canal, Italy on Friday, August 20, 2010. (AP Photo)

Giorgia Boscolo rides her gondola in Venice's Grand Canal, Italy, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. After nine hundred years of male dominance in the profession, Venice is going to have its first official female gondolier. Boscolo has passed the practical exam on August 13. Boscolo is the first woman to pass this test, considered the most difficult step in the long road to become a gondolier. She must now pass one further exam in November before joining the guild of official gondoliers. (AP Photo)

Giorgia Boscolo, background right, rides a gondola in Venice's Grand Canal, Italy. (AP Photo)