The landing stage

The inhabitants of the hamlets around the lake were a particular kind of farmer, switching between the hoe and the oar. Claudio Dal Lago spent much of his life on a boat. He ran the landing stage, where people could hire boats to go out on the lake, alone, with family or with friends.

I am Claudio Dal Lago, son of Cesare Dal Lago. My father was a boatman even before the war because he had a great passion for Lake Fimon. In 1948 he leased the landing stage from ENAL, and we carried on from there until 1976. At the beginning, all the boats were in a terrible state after the war. Later, he started building a few boats himself and we got going again. By 1954 we had about fifteen boats. Then music came along as well. On Sundays there was a kiosk by the landing stage with a dance floor. So, there was quite a lively atmosphere there. As boatmen, we also took part in rowing competitions. In the meantime, we built some new boats. They were made in 1971–72 using marine plywood, and that is when we really got going. We carried on for another five or six years, because in 1976 we closed down. ENAL was dissolved and so we no longer managed the landing stage. During those years, four people also drowned. They were all accidents and, even now, it's impossible to know exactly what happened. Afterwards, I worked as a carpenter. Then, about fifteen years ago, we built a boat as part of a demonstration that took place over four Sundays. We worked along the lakeside road, opposite the houses. Now I am seventy-six years old and I do not even go out on a boat anymore. I am almost ashamed that I can no longer put a boat on the lake because there simply aren't any left anymore. In the beginning, boats were made of spruce. Later, when I attended the School of Arts and Crafts, larch turned out to be the best wood of all. Then came marine plywood for the hulls, which meant there was no longer any need to apply pitch, because otherwise you had to stop the boat and coat it with pitch to stop water getting in. I made my own oars and took care of all the little jobs that needed doing. The boats had a particular design: if someone caught an eel, it could not jump out because there was a rowlock fixed above. They had also built a platform, and the eels were placed underneath it, to make sure they could not escape.