Italy: Murano
Italy: Murano
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Murano |
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Murano was a commercial port as far back as
the 7th Century, and by the 10th Century it had grown into a prosperous
trading center with its own coins, police force, and commercial
aristocracy. Then, in 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered glassmakers to
move their foundries to Murano because the glassworks represented a fire
danger in Venice, whose buildings were mostly wooden at the time.
It wasn't long until Murano's glassmakers were the leading citizens on the island. Artisans were granted the right to wear swords and enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the notoriously high-handed Venetian state. By the late 14th Century, the daughters of glassmakers were allowed to marry into Venice's blue-blooded families. (This was roughly equivalent to Archie Bunker's daughter being invited to wed a Cabot or a Peabody.) Such pampered treatment had one catch: Glassmakers weren't allowed to leave the Republic. If a craftsman got a hankering to set up shop beyond the Lagoon, he risked being assassinated or having his hands cut off by the secret police--although, in practice, most defectors weren't treated so harshly. What made Murano's glassmakers so special? For one thing, they were the only people in Europe who knew how to make a mirror. They also developed or refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Their virtual monopoly on quality glass lasted for centuries, until glassmakers in Northern and Central Europe introduced new techniques and fashions around the same time that colonists were emigrating to the New World. |
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| Glass Blowers: We watched as this artisan made the glass horse in only a few minutes. | ||
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| Around the Town: Various photos from around Murano. | ||
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| Boat Ride: Photos taken from our 20 minute private water taxi from Venice to Murano. The Murano city council will give free boat rides from Venice to Murano. You then have to tour one of the glass factories. After that, you are free to explore the island on your own as well as pay for your own water bus back to Venice, about 6 Euro's / person. | ||
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| Pizza: Seafood Pizza | ||
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| Yachts: Some large yachts moored in Venice | ||
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