40-Foot Violin Boat, Noah’s Violin, Launches With Cellist Playing on the Deck

Livio De Marchi is a well-known Italian artist, also referred to as the Carpenter of Venice. He does a lot of stuff in wood, including houses and furniture, but also giant floating pieces, and dabs in other mediums of artistic expression as well. De Marchi famously made international headlines when he started out carving wooden car slash boats to sail the canals in Venice.

His most famous works in this category include a wooden Ferrari F50, a Jaguar 1937, a retro Mercedes, and a Volkswagen Beetle. Just as impressive was a wooden pumpkin carriage with four wooden horses he created for his daughter’s wedding – yes, it was technically still a boat.

Noah’s Violin is his latest creation, built during last year’s lockdown. It is a 40-foot (12.2-meter) boat shaped like a violin, created in partnership with the Venice Development Consortium as a homage to the people who have lost their lives in the ongoing international health crisis. Last Friday, it was launched to Venice’s Grand Canal, with a cellist playing on the deck.

“It floats,” De Marchi proudly says on his social media. Now that this has been established, the striking work of art slash boat will set sail in September this year, carrying an entire band on the deck. It will sail on the Grand Canal as the band plays, reminding locals and tourists of the tragic developments of 2020.

Like all the other giant floating works of De Marchi’s, Noah’s Violin looks exactly like the real-life musical instrument, only blown up to size. Every detail has been painstakingly recreated, and the propulsion and steering of the boat will probably be carefully hidden from view. As you can see in the video below, the launch was more of a test, and it did not move under its own power.