Murano, Torcello and the Creation of Venice
Hello Steemians! Today we traveled from Venice to the islands of Murano, Torcello, and sort of Burano (I'll explain the sort of in a little while).
Murano
Many of you have probably heard of Murano before due to the exquisite glass they produce. It was a treat to head to this island and see a master glassblower at work. It took the master a little less than ten minutes to produce a glass bowl with extremely intricate details and a colorful standing horse, the latter of which he did in under one minute (if he didn't finish the horse before the glass cooled he would have had to trash the piece and start anew as the glass cannot be reheated, this technique can take years to master). Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of either item as they do not allow photography at the gallery or workshop.
History of Murano Glass
Murano glass has been produced on the small chain of islands since the 13th century when glass furnaces were moved to Murano from Venice. Some say the furnaces were moved there to minimize fire risks, others believe it was just easier to concentrate the venetian glass making skill in one place (the government did actually control the master and apprentice glassmakers by forbidding them from practicing the skill if they left the islands of Murano!). Whatever the reason, glassmaking flourished in Murano and the Islands prospered.
Today, the glassmakers are a fraction of what they were at the height of venetian glass, fewer than 60 furnaces still exist, but the works are still just as beautiful as ever!
Here are a few of the pictures we took on Murano.
Torcello and the start of the Venetian Republic
I knew nothing of the history of Venice and the surrounding islands in the lagoon, so I was happily surprised to learn that our tour would be covering how the lagoon was populated!
Now, if you read my previous post about the founding of Rome you'll know that Rome's founding has a pretty interesting story. The story of how the lagoom was populated isn't quite as exciting in my opinion, there aren't any brothers fighting over hills or gods impregnating women while they sleep, but still interesting nonetheless.
The story goes something like this...
The Roman city of Altino was under siege by the germanic barbarians during the 5th century. Most residents fled the city, but some stayed behind to follow the cities bishop. The bishop asked God for guidance on where to take his followers. According to the legend the bishop had a vision and was told to climb the city tower and follow the stars he sees to refuge. Those stars led him to the island that would become Torcello, or Little Tower.
This was the first island in the lagoon to be populated, and it would grow to have massive palaces and churches due to the great salt trade that would occur on the island.
So if Torcello was so great why do we never hear about it? Well, there were a series of natural disasters that forced the residents of Torcello to abandon the island for Venice instead. The first of these was the formation of sandbars in the canals, created by the natural rivers depositing silt. With the canals made impassable trade shifted to Venice. The next disaster also resulted from the shallowing of the canals. The canals became a breeding ground for mosquitos and soon malaria outbreaks were common, killing off a number of the residents. These outbreaks were the last straw for the residents of Torcello, they dismantled their houses and made their way to Venice.
Today all that remains on Torcello is a single palazzo and the Basilica di Santa Maria del Assunto. It is a really peaceful place that does have one of the two canal bridges in the entire lagoon without a parapet, the other being in Venice. The Basilica is also worth the visit as it is covered in beautiful mosaics.
Burano...sort of
So, the last part of our island tour was supposed to be Burano, a fishing island known for its colorful houses and handmade lace. We were really looking forward to taking pictures around the island of the brightly colored buildings, unfortunately this happened instead...
Yep, that is a storm rolling in. We did manage to make it to the island, but there was no getting off the boat in weather like this...
The one good thing about the storm raining us out, it also cleared out a lot of the tourists in Venice. It gave us the perfect opportunity to get some really good photos of the Basilica, Doge's Palace, and a couple other areas.
Hope you all enjoyed! Tomorrow is our last day in Italy, but there will be more to come from our trip when we get home and can download the pictures from our camera! Stay tuned!
All info was from our tour guide with Murano, Torcello, and Burano Tours.
Check out our other adventures in Rome at these links below.
The Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum
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So glad that you're enjoying Venice. I love about a 4 hour drive from there!
Outside of the place being overcrowded in the tourist areas this place has been amazing. We visited Burano today and there will be a post soon to come. I'm actually a little concerned I may have forgotten what a car looks like lol.
Jealous you're so close! this would be an amazing place to come for a long weekend getaway!
Wow, those are some beautiful pictures, glad you guys had fun! It's crazy to think they actually use those canals as transportation, so fascinating.
I was amazed today when I saw a couple cars on one of the islands were went past...it's only been a day and a half but they seemed out of place already. I have a picture from this morning of a gondola "traffic jam" that I can't wait to post when we get home.
Beautiful pictures and interesting post.
Glad you enjoyed! I have learned so much on this trip and have so much more to share, I don't want it to end, but I'm excited to be able to put some real work in, on a laptop not my phone, and share even more when I get home!