Murano, Venice - world-famous glass art on an enchanting island

Today we are visiting Murano, an island in the Venice Lagoon. Murano is world-famous for its glass art, hand-crafted or mouth-blown works of art made of colored glass.

Murano actually consists of seven individual islands connected to one another. The group of islands lies northeast of the old town of Venice in the Venice Lagoon. We take the vaporetto, the public water bus, from the center of Venice to Murano. The boat trip across the lagoon only is a great experience. Murano has been the island of glass workshops for centuries, but today it also lives from tourism.

Glass production was already known to the Romans in ancient times, but the knowledge was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire. The technology returned to Venice through trade with Byzantium, where glass was still being produced. Glass production in Venice has been documented since 982. Venice is therefore considered the cradle of Central European glass production.

For fire safety reasons, all glass workshops were relocated from Venice to Murano in 1295. But the even more important reason was to preserve the closely guarded secret of glass production. The Venetian dominance in glass production was only broken in the 18th century, which then led to the decline of the glass industry on Murano.

The beginning of tourism at the beginning of the 19th century and the period of historicism led to a renewed flourishing of Murano and its glass craft. Today, the streets of the island are characterized by countless glass shops. However, a distinction must be made between the works of renowned Venetian glass artists and tourist souvenirs. Cheap souvenirs are often not real Murano glass, but industrially manufactured mass-produced goods.

At many glass studios you can also take a look into the workshop. It is fascinating how the glass master forms a small work of art from a lump of red-hot glass in just a few minutes!

But there are not only glass workshops here. As in the old town of Venice, Murano also has a maze of picturesque alleys, canals as traffic arteries and a network of bridges. There is also a Grand Canal. The houses and villas are not as big and not as representative as in the old town of Venice. You can see that mainly craftsmen lived here in the past. But that is exactly what makes the island so attractive.

The basilica "Santi Maria e Donato" dates back to the 7th century and is therefore one of the oldest churches in the region. The churches "San Pietro Martire" and "Santa Maria degli Angeli" are also worth seeing. The late Gothic villa "Palazzo da Mula" dates back to the 15th century and, with its red brick construction and well-preserved garden, is one of the last remaining examples of the typical summer residences of the rich Venetians in the Middle Ages. And of course you can visit the Glass Museum, where the history of Murano glass is presented.

But the best thing is to simply stroll through the alleys and soak up the atmosphere. In contrast to the old town of Venice, you can sometimes even find quiet places on Murano.

After our stroll through Murano, we get back on a vaporetto and continue on to Burano.

Link to our tour to Murano and Burano: https://www.komoot.com/de-de/tour/171...

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You can find the complete channel playlist for our stay in Venice here:    • Venedig / Venezia  

Visit in October 2023

Chapter:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Boat trip across the lagoon to Murano
02:33 Arrival and glass workshop
05:09 Along the Canal Grande di Murano
07:04 From Basilica di Santi Maria e Donato to Campo San Bernardo
08:20 Campo San Bernardo
09:52 Ponte Longo Lino Toffolo
10:50 To the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli
12:09 Ponte San Pietro Martire with Torre dell Orologio
13:34 Outro

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