La Dolce Vita (barge)

This article is about a hotel barge. For other uses, see Dolce Vita.

La Dolce Vita
History
Italy
Name	La Dolce Vita
Owner	Giampaolo Friso
Route	The lagoons surrounding Venice, the Venice Lido beach, and the Brenta River
Launched	1897
Status	In service
General characteristics
Class and type	Commercial passenger vessel
Length	21 m (68 ft 11 in)
Beam	4.9 m (16 ft 1 in)
Decks	1
Installed power	2 generators
Propulsion	Deutz, 150 hp (110 kW)
Speed	Maximum 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Capacity	6 passengers
Crew	3 crew
Notes	Holds 6,000 L (1,300 imp gal; 1,600 US gal) water; 3,000 L (660 imp gal; 790 US gal) fuel

La Dolce Vita (English: The sweet life) was built in 1897 in Groningen, Netherlands. She originally served as a cargo barge in the Netherlands. She serves as a hotel barge, owned by Giampaolo Friso.

History

The original barge was powered by sail. She was first motorized in the 1950s and in the 1960s was lengthened by 10 m (33 ft) (with square chines). In 1975, she was purchased by Peter Mastenbroeks. She was shortened back to her original length of 23 m (75 ft) and her name was changed to Lobbes. In 1979, she was transformed into a sailing barge. She has worked in the Netherlands, throughout Scandinavia, France, and Italy. She has also sailed under the names of Hoop en Vertrouwen (English: Hope and Confidence), Gerris, and Lobbes.

She was sold in 1983 and continued to be operated as a sailing barge by a French couple. Around 1988, she was sold to a new owner in Venice and converted to a hotel barge in 1990. La Dolce Vita currently has three passenger cabins, allowing her to carry up to six passengers. She also has separate crew quarters which house the crew of three. ^[1] The crew consists of the captain, tour guide/deck-hand, and chef. The crew is generally Italian with one crewmember who speaks English. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

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  Passengers on deck.

References

1. Deck plan
2. Steven B. Stern (2004). Stern's Guide to the Cruise Vacation 2005. Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN   978-1-58980-240-7.
3. Kay Showker; Bob Sehlinger (2007). The Unofficial Guide to Cruises. Wiley. ISBN   978-0-470-08791-6.
4. Shirley Slater; Harry Basch (1997). Fielding's Worldwide Cruises 1998. Fielding Worldwide. ISBN   978-1-56952-156-4.
5. Peter Greenberg (2007). The Complete Travel Detective Bible: The Consummate Insider Tells You What You Need to Know in an Increasingly Complex World! . Rodale. ISBN   978-1-59486-708-8.

External links

• European Waterways Website