Trifter

MURANO

Situated about one mile to the north of Venice is the island, or group of islands, that make up Murano. Murano became especially famous for its glassmaking after all the glassmakers of Venice were forced to move there in 1291 to protect the wooden buildings from the possibility of fires. Apart from the many glass-making factories, the main attractions of Murano are: the church of Santa Maria and San Donato which has a magnificent Byzantine mosaic pavement; the church of San Pietro Martire and Palazzo Mula. Murano is also home to the Glass Museum.

The glass-making tradition of Murano goes back many centuries and the artisans of Murano create, not only the small pieces for the low-budget tourist, but the maestri (master artisans) create unique pieces of great artistic value and beauty. When visiting the showrooms adjacent to these factories, please be warned that you will be approached by salespeople who will invite you to an upper room to view the more expensive and artistic pieces which will not be on view to the general public. Unless you are willing to pay several thousand dollars for a unique piece of glass, I would not suggest that you take up the offer to visit the exhibits in the upper rooms. Although, of course, no one will make you buy anything that you do not want to, I am sure that they will use all their powers of persuasion to make sure that you walk out with an expensive glass piece. Another Murano attraction is a colourful glass Christmas Tree which is on view the whole year round in Campo Santo Stefano. The tree is the world’s biggest blown glass tree and is 8.5 metres tall and made of 1000 blown glass tubes.  The tree is the work of master craftsman Simone Cedenese.

                    Photo by author

Murano is smaller and much less crowded than Venice. Its attraction is mainly in the many shops selling glass but it is also a pleasant place to walk around and admire the architecture.

BURANO

About 6 kilometres to the north of Murano, lies the colourful island of Burano.  Burano is mostly famous for its delicate lacework. In the 16th century the women of the island started making lace with needles and their delicate and beautiful work soon started to be exported across Europe. Following a period of decline, a school of lacemaking was opened on the island in 1872. This led to another boom in lacemaking. These days few people make lace since it is very time-consuming and thus very expensive. Anyone interested in lace-making should also visit the Museo dei  Merletti (Lace Museum).

The main charm of Burano lies in its brightly-coloured houses.

                   Photo by my husband Darin D.

The legend is that the fishermen of Burano had started to paint their houses in different colours so as to distinguish between them when the island was surrounded in the winter mists. The request for a house colour must be sent to the government who will check the particular colours that are allowed on that particular lot before giving the go-ahead for the paint job to take place. Another attraction is the church of San Martino with its leaning campanile (tower). The houses on Burano are less close together than in Murano and Venice and, in summer, this allows for some nice sea breezes which help to alleviate the heat of the day.

Check out Places of Interest in Venice