The “Circolo Fotografico La Gondola” has been founded in 1948, when the post-war years saw the flourishing  of a variety of artistic trends which were to find wide scope in the neo-realistic movement.

In photography as well, a renewal movement found its way, in opposition to the idealized and “conservative” vision advocated by the photographers belonging to Photo Club La Bussola.

La Gondola, founded by Paolo Monti, Gino Bolognini, Luciano Scattola and Alfredo Bresciani, characterized itself by its ability to mediate between formalism and neo-realism, developing a prevailingly “lyric-realistic” style in photography. In the new vision echoes of Otto Steinert’s subjective photographie could still be found, as can be seen in Paolo Monti’s work.

It wasn’t properly a “Gondola style” to speak of, though an “école de Venise” was often referred to in Europe, but success and recognition grew rapidly and attracted a whole generation of young photographers who drew inspiration from Venice for their work.

These were the times of Fulvio Roiter, Bepi Bruno, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Elio Ciol, Bruno Rosso,Toni Del Tin and dozens others, as well as great exhibitions which exposed to the public the best of international photography, thanks to the cooperation of Romeo Martinez, editor of Camera magazine.

Inevitable changes and replacements in membership did not affect the level of exhibitions nor the productive activity, always marked by impeccable formal rigour. The trademark lyricism was still present, though its initial freshness was losing momentum.

In the following decade a group of university students, architecture majors,  joined "La Gondola". Their presence caused "La Gondola" to shift its interest towards a highly conceptual photography with weaker aesthetic impact.

La Gondola’s cultural vocation found then renewed scope. Thanks to continuing support by Lanfranco Colombo owner of the Photographic Gallery "Il DIAFRAMMA" in Milan, major exhibitions of international relevance were organized in Venice: French Photography from 1840 to present; Review of Swiss Photography; American Avant-garde, and many more.

Today, our cultural and critical tradition constitute a priceless heritage and a source of attraction and reference for the Venetian photographic environment. Our members’ work stays committed to researching and experimenting and, at the same time, constantly documenting the ever-changing and problematic Venetian reality.