So, you’ve rented a really great apartment, right near the Accademia Bridge. Your stuff has arrived by boat, and has been lugged on trolleys to the apartment building.
But, your new nest is up on the top floor. The stairway is steep and narrow, and there’s no lift. How do you get those boxes from Point A (the pavement) to Point B (your apartment)?
Here’s where ingenuity comes into play. A seriously long ladder is extended from the pavement to one of your windows. This is not an ordinary ladder, though. It has a platform, and a motorised hoist, so those boxes can be lifted to their destination.
Almost as quickly as you can say “Un spritz con campari, senza oliva, per favore”, the job is done.
Hello World 
I always wondered how people move in some of those high rise apartments without lifts. Now I know…wow! thanks for sharing!
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In many parts of Europe, this same problem would exist. I would suppose they use similar technology.
(Your pasta with mascarpone is on my menu for this evening!) Yes, twice in one week! 🙂
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Would you believe I found that brochure for the movers? Honest, I was looking for something else completely. They have pictures of their trucks, boats and that fancy ladder contraption(showing a sofa being taken up to a balcony). They are: Traslochi La Veneta, 30172 Mestre (VE), Via Torino, 196. Tel. 041.5310856. They also have a location in San Dona’ Di Piave.
If my own limited Italian and my trusty dictionary serve me right I think it says they give free estimates without a commitment.
I can’t see the bottom of the machine in their pics but the side of the fancy ladder has their company name.
Now I need to go create a paper file “Venice: Future Reference” in the file drawer where it belongs.
And no, I didn’t find what I was actually looking for.
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Now, I hope Maya reads your information, Michelle. 🙂
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I hope so to. That’s why I included their contact information.
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Now why on earth would you opt out of a perfectly good olive in your spritz? Next time we are together in Venezia drinking spritz, I will take yours if you don’t want it. 😉
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It’s a deal! (They take up room better occupied by the liquid part of the drink.) 😉
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Pretty cool piece of equipment! 🙂
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It is, but I’d rather have your lathe!
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love it!!!
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You’d no doubt have seen this happening during your stay in Venice, Karen.
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All clever stuff, where there is a will there’s a way,
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Isn’t that true, Jan. Nice to hear from you.
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I have also seen this in Paris!
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All those cities/countries with buildings from long before lifts were dreamed of, Andrew.
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My guess is that they had servants?
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Well, you know what role we would have filled in those days!
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And of course all this made me go looking for that flyer I kept and of course can’t find it anywhere. Do I have a file marked “Venice: Future reference”? Of course not.
If I remember correctly they were based in Mestre.
We have a contraption similar to that which I have seen in use here in Seattle for carrying roof tiles up when people are getting a new roof. Makes a heck of a racket.
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Well, you have time up your sleeve to find it, Michelle.
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Now, that’s something I’ve missed till now … the little electric motor is a real treat, beats dangling ropes and pulleys. 🙂
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In the last photo, you can make out the name “Umzuglift”, which sounds rather German, doesn’t it?
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Sure does! Lets hope the enterprising person who brought it to overcome the dilemma in La Serenissima is a Venetian 🙂
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I reckon it would be Venetians, but then, we’re a tad biased, aren’t we?
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That is quite the moving apparatus! I would have never guessed this is how it is done. As to living in Venice I feel a serious case of travel envy coming on . 🙂
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They have worked out some clever adaptations for moving things, in that city on the water.
Come to Venice next May, I’d love to show you around! Your husband will have plenty of reasons to shake his head!
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Well that would be great fun! Imagine what we could get up to.
We have been to Venice once and actually are cycling in Tuscany this fall but no plans for Venice.
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Whew! You gotta a number for them? 🙂 We’ve got a lot of boxes coming!
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What floor will you be on? Have you nailed the apartment near the Frari, Maya?
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We will be on the 2nd floor — piano nobile. We are awaiting our lease documents… the owners are on holiday until August 20. But the apartment is completely unfurnished, so we will have to furnish it all and that I fear, is our future!
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It might be a bit minimalist for the first little while! At least you’re right near a canal, for transport.
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Although my home from home in Venice last December had no mailbox the “junk” mail was still delivered….stuffed in the door handle or left on the stoop. One was a flyer for a company that specializes in exactly this kind of furniture delivery. I kept it for future reference.
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Good idea! I’ve never noticed (or been there at the right time), to see the ladder itself arriving.
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Wow! Very cool, but I’m glad our stuff doesn’t have to be hauled that way when we move.
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First, it would all go by ferry to Victoria, then men would load it onto trolleys, and then …
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Thanks for the link, Anneli!
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I’ve seen them move furniture this way in St. Malo.
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Do they have the same sort of problems there, no lifts, etc.?
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Narrow staircases and no way to get furniture up or down the stairs. No elevators. So outside with hoists, ropes and pulleys is a standard moving practice. Go to my post on St. Malo and you’ll see a photo of it. http://wordsfromanneli.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/st-malo/
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