Colours and fragility hand in hand - the islands of Murano and Bura...

Murano and Burano are two of the islands in the Venetian lagoon where you will find vivid colours in the Burano architecture and Murano glass, combined with the elegance and fragility of Burano lance and the Murano glass artworks. But let's go step by step.

For Burano we can definitely say that it is love at first sight, since the colourful houses that reflect in the green waters of the small canals, capture the attention of every visitor.

The small island is located in Northern Venetian Lagoon, approximately 11 kilometres northeast of Venice. It has 3.000 inhabitants and is one of the most popular day trip destinations from Venice. If you are visiting the tiny island in peak season, it can be very crowdy, so pack yourself with calm and patience. The rainbow houses are picture perfect, but sometimes you will have to wait quite long to have the opportunity to take a nice shot. We visited it in late autumn and still in Covid times and it was quite calm and perfect to stroll around.

The tradition of painting the houses dates back to the 16th century. There are two different legends explaining the origins of the painted houses. The first one says that the bright house colours made it easier for fishermen to find their way home during foggy weather on the sea. The second one says that locals coloured their houses to clearly mark their property and separate it from the neighbouring one. Whatever it was the reason, the result is just magic 😊.

We spent the majority of our day strolling around and admiring the colours, discovering the narrow streets and crossing small, romantic bridges.
The whole surrounding area is very colourful, and you have to be very attentive to notice street art details.

The leaning bell tower captured our attention. The tower was built in the 17th century and has undergone several restorations, but because of land subsidence it is inclined of 1.83 meters respect to its axis.

The main craftsmanship on Burano is still lacemaking. It all started back in 1500 and it became a strong and important activity. The skilful hands of local women created proper masterpieces that were exported across Europe. After a decline in lacemaking in the 18th century, it was revived in 1872 - a school was opened to train future lacemakers. Today you can still admire them at a local Lance making museum or in small shops all around the island.

Burano has always been also a fishing village and is well known for great fish dishes. The most famous is the "risotto de gò". "Gò" is a typical fish of the Venice lagoon, known in English under the name of "goby". There are many restaurants on the island where you can have this risotto or any other delicious plate with fresh fish. We’ve had a glass of great wine and some small Venetian snacks (called cicchetti – that I’ve described already in my post about Venice).

But we had to try typical Burano's cookies (the most famous are the "Bussolà" and the "Esse"). Simple, but tasty biscuits, in the shape of “O” and” S” that literary disappeared before I was able to take a photo of them. That is why I can just share with you an image of one of the pastry shops.

The island of Burano and Murano are well connected with Venice (and other nearby locations) with public motorboats, vaporetto, but of course can be visited also with private transfers or as organized tours from Venice. We travelled all around Venice lagoon using the public water transportation which is great and well organized and allows you to travel around very easily.

From Burano we travelled back to the island of Murano. The island is world known for its glass (glass blowing factories and the glass artwork).

It is not only one island, but actually 7 islands connected with bridges. The whole atmosphere is quite different, especially if you compare it to colourful Burano. Already when you are approaching the island you will notice some high chimneys and furnaces.

Murano glass is very nice and very expensive. But how did Murano develop into glass – the blowing capital of the word? At its origins the area was a fishing port and salt production centre. Under the rule of Venice, in the 13th century, the Venetian government found it too dangerous to have glass-blowing furnaces in the city. An eventual fire could destroy the whole city (with mostly wooden buildings), that is why the furnaces were transferred to the island. The glassblowers nourished and developed their art and were renowned all over the world.

For a certain time Murano was the world centre of glass making. Later on, the knowledge and the crafts spread to other parts of the world as well. In the 20th century, Murano glass-making traditions were revived, and new factories opened. Today, glassmakers in Murano work together under a trademark that guarantees traditional techniques and the originality of the product.

Just walking on the island and along the main canal you will have the opportunity to admire artists in their small shops, you can look at their artworks and buy them. I warmly advise you to attend a glass-blowing demonstration. There are many furnaces offering this experience. For me it was not the first time, but I wanted to show it to my son. As I already said, it is not a normal year and the experience this time was unique, since we were the only 3 guests in the furnace, and the craftsman did the demonstration only for us. It is really incredible, the ability and technique,..he makes it look very easy.