The art of Venetian glass in Venice

In a nutshell: a thousand years of fire, sand and mastery on the island of Murano - the story of Venetian glass and where to watch it made. Murano is one of the lagoon islands, so fold it into a boat day, and browse the artisan houses that sell the finished work.

Since ancient times man has paid glass an almost mystical attention, attributing to its transparencies something magical and supernatural: the magicians of legend used to foretell the future through a crystal sphere, and chemists and alchemists studied prisms in constant search of the philosopher's stone that would turn metal into gold. Even today, the visitor who comes to Murano meets the same scenes that for centuries inspired writers and legends: the structure of the furnaces has remained unchanged over time, and technology is present only in small details - all due to the attachment the masters have always shown to traditions which, like a clock, have marked time through over a thousand years of glassmaking in Venice.

The origins of the art of glass in Venice go back before the millennium: archaeological digs have brought to light fragments indicating the presence of the activity as early as the seventh century, both on the island of Torcello and on that of Murano. It was in the twelfth century, however, that the art of glass presented itself as an organized manufacturing activity, concentrating on the island of Murano - until the Republic decreed the transfer to the island of all the furnaces still working in the historic center, for safety reasons linked above all to the risk of fire.

It can be assumed that the techniques were then refined in Venice more than anywhere else in Europe, thanks to the commercial contacts the Venetians had with the Near East and above all with countries of ancient glassmaking tradition such as the Phoenicians, the Syrians and the Egyptians. That tradition was an opportunity to recompose Western and Eastern knowledge and techniques, giving the lagoon production the characteristics that made it so important in the world over the centuries. The old Amurianum - as the island was once called - grew in prestige to the point of not being considered one of the islands of Venice, since it enjoyed a certain independence from the Signoria: a privilege granted in virtue of the activity of the furnaces installed there and, consequently, of the economic importance Murano was beginning to hold in the social fabric of the Serenissima. With the dogal edict promulgated by Doge Tiepolo in 1291, the island of Murano was declared a true and proper industrial area and soon became the capital of world glass production. The doge was represented by a Podestà assisted by a popular council, and among the privileges granted to the islanders the most extraordinary was the concession that allowed Muranese families to intermarry with Venetian nobles. The affinity between Venice and Murano is curiously witnessed also by the morphology of the two cities, which present the same campi, calli, internal rii and even a Grand Canal running through them.

The craft was protected through sanctions that forbade practicing it to anyone not enrolled in the guild and to anyone wishing to move abroad. Production was for the most part utilitarian and serial - wine and oil bottles, glasses, lamps and so on - while objects with a decorative function, linked to religious images, were also made. Over the years glass manufacture became one of the main activities of the Republic; in particular, the fifteenth century saw remarkable development, due mainly to the shift to transparent white glass that imitated crystal.

The process for obtaining this glass is due to Angelo Barovier, one of the greatest glass masters, and it guaranteed Venice artistic predominance for over two hundred years, allowing production to extend also to more precious objects. In Barovier's furnaces another glass also appeared: the porcellane or lattimo, which, for its characteristics, lent itself to counterfeiting the precious porcelain of the Ming. All these innovations helped develop production in an artistic as well as a manufacturing sense.

During the sixteenth century the activity of the glassworks entered a crisis, caused principally by the increase in emigration of the glass masters and by the discovery of a new type of lead crystal glass and of a potash crystal glass with a high lime content, made respectively in Bohemia and in England in 1676. Despite everything, Murano managed to raise the level of refinement and elegance of its production, offering many modernized or completely new products to satisfy the renewed needs of well-being linked to the modern lifestyle: mirrors and chandeliers became the most requested objects of Muranese production of this period.

The museum and the twentieth-century revival

In 1861 the Museo del Vetro was founded, thanks to the commitment of three important figures: the mayor Antonio Colleoni, the abbot Vittorio Zanetti and the lawyer Antonio Salviati. Much was changing in Europe - production, tastes and artistic fashions - but Murano isolated itself and refused to take account of the new young talents: convinced of being at the forefront from a technical point of view, it failed to open a dialogue with the novelties that struck all the arts, and therefore also glass, from the point of view of form. The only exceptions were the Fratelli Toso and the Barovier artists. In 1921 a great general renewal began: Giacomo Cappelin and a very young Paolo Venini continued the work of Andrea Rioda, founding the new firm Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin-Venini & C. The two chose to work within a production of elevated taste but at the same time usable in everyday life; artistic direction was entrusted to Vittorio Zecchin, one of the few Muranese artists to assert himself within the Art Nouveau movement. With them returned colorless glass, monochrome or with few delicate tints, in forms that recalled those of the sixteenth century. Ercole Barovier also gave his contribution in favor of this kind of workmanship, and the masters who later asserted themselves - Archimede Seguso, Alfredo Barbini and Lino Tagliapietra - were inventors of innovative technical artifices and proposed original formal solutions.

Visiting Murano

On the island today there are about a hundred glassworks run in an artisanal way: glass in Murano is still made by hand. If you have the chance you can admire live all the steps necessary for the realization of a glass object, because walking around Murano it is easy to attend the creation of the objects in the factories before buying them.

Murano is the closest of the lagoon islands and an easy escape from the crowds: vaporetto service leaves from the Fondamente Nove docks in Cannaregio (an ACTV ticket covers the ride - a single ticket is valid for 75 minutes of travel in one direction, which is plenty for a day trip there and back). The island is happily touristy, but a half-day on the water is a chance to see an art that has been practised on this same spot for a millennium.

The Glass Museum (Museo del Vetro)

The Glass Museum traces the history of this delicate art from its origins to the present day, and it is the best place in town to see genuine Murano glass - a useful education before you shop. Admission is €10, covered by the Museum Pass, and the museum is open daily 10:30-18:30, from November to March until 16:30 (+39 041 739 586).

The Museum Pass (€35, €18 for youth and seniors) covers a string of city-run museums - the Doge's Palace, the Correr Museum, Ca' Rezzonico, Palazzo Mocenigo, Casa Goldoni, Ca' Pesaro and the Natural History Museum in town, plus the Glass Museum here on Murano and the Lace Museum on Burano - and pays for itself if you plan to visit the Doge's Palace, the Correr and one or two of the others. Buy it at any participating museum or online at www.visitmuve.it.