Not surprisingly, Giorgia makes amends. First, the SMS was an error, and second, she knows far better than to bite the hand, eccettera.

I would have been surprised if, as the first female gondolier, Giorgia had “taken the movie deal;” that is, sold out a goal she’d held dear all her life for a bit of short-term fame. That said, there’s no doubt she has been inundated with requests from all over the world for interviews, photo ops, and who knows what else…it’s only natural she could use a hand managing the initial wave. So, she asked her “agent” — her sister — to help by answering the phone. And there was some resulting confusion. And it made headlines (including on this blog). Ah, Venice.

Giorgia shoulders all the blame herself, though: Se ho sbagliato chiedo scusa. “Forgive me if I caused any problems.” She never meant to ask money from a journalist, but expenses from Canale 5 who wanted her in Milan (the SMS was intended for them). The errors stand corrected, as of this morning’s article in the Gazzettino.

“I’ve worked too hard and made others suffer too much to get this far – I wouldn’t ever want this short-term fame to being harm either to me or to any of the gondoliers.”

“I hope to become a gondolier in every way,” she adds. “but it’s overwhelming me a little all this brouhaha going on around me.”

Ci credo…I believe it. It would surprise me that a woman and a mother of young children with the temerity to even attempt becoming a gondolier would so easily cave to the temptations of her “15-seconds.” I’m delighted to hear the backstory clarified.

Vai Giorgia, sei fortissima!

Oops…two days into her intern job as the first female gondolier ever, Giorgia’s gone Hollywood on us.

According to this morning’s article in the Gazzettino, Dino Di Meo of the French Liberation was dumbfounded when, in response to his request for an interview and a photograph, he was redirected – by SMS – to Giorgia’s agent. Gonna cost ya, big guy.

And no, the Ente Gondola guys are none too happy about it. In fact, after President Aldo Rosso vehemently defended her right to be the world’s first gondoliera, he’s now threatening to throw her right back out. No gondolier is even permitted to talk to the press without authorization of his/her capo, much less take money for the privilege.

She’d “better keep her feet on the ground,” says Aldo Rosso in the Gazzettino article. “If she intends to earn money on her image and on that of being a gondolier, this will be it for me. The honor and history of being a gondolier can’t be sold, even if you’re talking about the first woman ever authorized to take oar in hand.” He went on, “Giorgia will learn the rules of the trade, the ethics, and the code of conduct. This rest is so much smoke.”

[I know this is my cue to launch into a tirade about the use of terms like honor and code-of-conduct as it relates to gondoliers, but while this is the place, it is not the time.]

We’ll see what Giorgia decides. Essendo tanta in gamba, I doubt it will take long for her to determine that there are a great many ways to profit from being the world’s first female gondolier without breaking any rules…and without alienating every other gondolier on the planet, including the ones that stood behind you from the get-go.

Dura, fia: dai che ce la fai!