Murano Glass: The Island of Murano

Murano, Italy is an island that is the home of Venice, Italy's murano glassmaking industry. The glass making was moved to this island in the year 1291 because the production of this beautiful murano glass was a fire hazard for Venice as her buildings were constructed of mostly wood (see note below). Murano is just a short boat ride away on the vaporatto which is a water taxi from St. Mark's Square in Venice. On this trip we stayed huddled inside the vaporatto as it was quite cool and choppy out on the water.

My first visit to Murano was in the Fall of 2006. The canals are quite this time of the year which allowed us to experience the peaceful, everyday life of the people here. With few tourists, we were able to take our time and really explore this island. Murano is a quite peaceful island in late November. We found ourselves walking through a residential area that was a step back in time. I loved seeing the laundry hanging from balconies. The streets of Murano are as quaint and charming as those in Venice but more deserted which had a few locals wondering if we were lost. In the Fall you notice the everyday activities such as the man selling produce off of his boat.

It was interesting to find out that the people of Murano were held in high esteem for their glass making abilities. Daughters were allowed to marry into Venetian nobility and Murano artisans were immuned from prosecution in the earlier centuries. In later centuries, the people of Venice began to build homes on Murano because it was believed that the fires from the kilns provided healthy benefits to those living on the island.


Note: For a great read, check out The City of Falling Angels, by John Berendt (author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil). This book has great architectural facts and interesting facts about Murano glass blowers. It's a great fictional story that takes place during a great fire in Venice, Italy.