Gondolas are rowed with a specialized oar, not poled with a pole. The canals are too deep for poling. The history is interesting. 500 years ago, there were approximately 10,000 gondolas plying the waterways of Venice. Rowing from only one side became necessary, because, with all the gondola traffic, there wasn't room to row with oars on both sides!
The amazing thing, at least to me, is how long it took them to figure out to build asymmetrical Gondolas. They didn't start doing that until the late 1800s. The hulls are actually curved so they will turn right. Rowing on the right tends to turn the boat left, so modern gondolas compensate for that with a curved hull to bring it back to the right.
Gondolas have been standardized for a long time. I believe there are laws that regulate their size and appearance. Maybe the existence of such laws is what held back development of the asymmetric hull. Eight different kinds of wood are used in the construction. The ferro, the metal thing on the front, has a practical purpose: Venice is prone to high water events, and the ferro lets the Gondolier know if the water is too high for the gondola to get under bridges--if the ferro doesn't fit under, find another route.
Have fun in Venice!