Sandolo

A sandolo is less ornate and of a simpler build than a gondola, but both have a pointed, decorated metal nose.

[7] The traditional use of the sandolo is for recreation and racing, and it is considered one of the four principal types of boat used in and around Venice.

[9] Although not often used for fishing, as such, the craft is used for collecting crabs and mussels,[10] while an early 20th-century writer noted that he had heard the sandolo called "the donkey cart of Venice".

[12] In Gondola Days (1897), Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838–1915) stated that the sandolo was "the only boat of really modern design, and this is rarely used as a fishing-boat".

He went on to describe it as "a shallow skiff drawing but a few inches of water, and with bow and stern sharp and very low", and considered that it was originally intended for greater speed in boat racing.

Sandolo in Canal Grande
A sandolo
Sandolo, detail. Photo by Paolo Monti , 1969