Venetian boatman writes about old region (9)
I believe the answer is:
gondolier
'venetian boatman' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'about old region' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates anagramming the letters.
'old'+'region'='oldregion'
'oldregion' is an anagram of 'GONDOLIER'.
'writes' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for gondolier that I've seen before include "Punter" , "One to move over water" , "Venetian waterman" , "Propeller of Venetian boat" , "Singular SO" .)