The great majority of tourists, who are hastily visiting Venice, think that all boats in the canals are gondole. On the contrary there is a variety of different boats cruising the Laguna. Each boat has gradually evolved, in order to suit a specific requirement, so to become an unicum

Sàndolo: the most commonly used boat of the lagoon. It varies from 5 to 9 m in length, has flat sides, a straight bow stem inclined forwards with a straight-cut stern.
The many variations of this boat are to adapt it to many uses: fishing (sàndolo a la ciosòta, sandolo buranèlo, sàndolo sampieròto), for recreation and regattas (mascaréta, pupparìn), hunting, carrying passengers, and so on. 

Sàndolo da s'ciòpo o S'ciopón: small boat about 5.25 m long, 1 m wide and 30 cm high.
It was used by the inhabitants of the estuary to hunt ducks using a technique called col s’ciopòn. The hunter followed the game around the lagoons in this light boat rowing with two crossed oars, threw bait from the sàndolo and using a small oar called a pénola (feather) or palina (small spade) he closed in on the ducks, shooting them with a large (3 m-long) type of musket or s’ciopo (from which the boat gets its name).

Sàndolo da barcariòl: used in Venice to transport tourists, painted black and equipped with parécio (that is chairs, a central divan, gilded horses on the sides, etc.), it is easily mistaken for a gondola by tourists, and serves the same function.
Nowadays a space is cut from the stern deck for the insertion of an off-board motor used for longer excursions.

Batèla buranela: Venetian transport boat with the straight-cut stern and the bow stem curved and extended forwards like that of the tòpo. With a solid and economical construction, it is still used to transport building materials. The oarsmen stand over the bow and stern decks leaving the central space free for the load. It derives from the more ancient batèla a còa de gàmbaro.

Caorlìna: a beautiful lagoon boat with rounded, symmetrical stern and bow and half-moon stems with vertical ends, parallel sides, with a large capacity but retaining its elegance.
Few examples of traditionally-built caorlìne have been conserved, but there are many reconstructions for recreation and regattas made in marine ply-wood.
The caorlìna can be used both with oars (up to 6 oarsmen) and sails. It was used for transport and for fishing a seràgia, in which case a low cabin for the fishermen (camaròto) was built into the stern.
Since 1951 the caorlìne have been used for the Venetian Historic Regatta with a crew of 6 oarsmen. It is 9 m long, 1.56 metres wide, with a bottom width of 0.56 m, and a mid-length height of 0.56 m. It weighs approx. 380 kg.

Peàta: also piatta; this was the most important transport boat for the city canals in Venice. Similar to the caorlìna, but larger and less slender, it was designed to obtain the maximum cargo capacity. The peate were built with half-moon stems (the later versions had a sraight stern stem), with the hull almost parallel, with a flat bottom and with two covers at the extremities with a hatch and two bitts each.

It was built in various sizes which ranged from 100 to 250, 400, and over 800 hundredweight. It was usually propelled by two oarsmen who used the fórcole or the simpler vogarìssi; the stern oarsman kept the boat on course moving the rudder with his feet.
In the narrower canals, the oarsmen propelled the boat by a form of punting (paràndo - a technique also used for the bùrci), in which the oar is pushed into the canal bottom, the oarsman places the top of the oar against his shoulder, walking backwards along the side of the boat. The boat was always (literally) pitch-black, the only decoration being two white circles (bóli) or two white bands (catelàne) painted on the bow and the stern.