Third time unlucky for female gondolier

All of the city's 425 gondoliers are male

It wasn't third time lucky for Alexandra Hai in her attempt to become Venice's first woman gondolier.

For years she longed to become the only female to power the elegant, slipper-shaped boats along the canals of the northern Italian city.

But, once again, despite having successfully passed her theory test, she was failed on her practical test.

She first sat the test in 1999, and after another two failures she has decided to call it a day.

All-male gang

"I am sorry for her," said Franco Vianello Moro, president of Ente Gondola, the Venice-based institute responsible for hiring new recruits.

"She showed so much passion and love, she deserved it," he told the Associated Press.

After years of trying for a licence to guide a gondolier along the city's waterways and don the familiar striped shirt and straw cap of the city's 425 male gondoliers, she has admitted defeat.

"It's useless," she told Italian news agency, Ansa, "The first female gondolier in Venice will be someone else."

The gondolier institute has rejected media speculation that Ms Hai was turned down because of her gender, pointing out that of the six-member examining commission, two were women.

"She failed because her exam didn't go well, that's all," Mr Moro said.