When people think of Venetian glass, Murano immediately comes to mind. Yet for several centuries, the city's glass furnaces were not located on the island.

Before 1291, most glassmakers worked in Venice itself, with furnaces scattered across different parts of the city. They were built close to homes, warehouses and canals, where raw materials arrived and finished works were shipped across the Mediterranean.

Glassmaking was already a highly developed craft. Venetian masters had perfected techniques such as glassblowing, hot shaping and decoration, combining the legacy of Roman craftsmanship with knowledge brought from the Byzantine East. As a crossroads of trade and cultures, Venice became the ideal place for these skills to flourish.

There was, however, one major problem. The furnaces burned day and night at extremely high temperatures. In a city where most buildings were made of wood, the danger of devastating fires was constant. For this reason, in 1291 the Venetian Republic ordered all glass furnaces to be moved to Murano, an island close enough to the city to keep production running while reducing the fire risk.

This decision did not mark the beginning of Venetian glassmaking but rather a turning point in its history.

By bringing all the master glassmakers together in one place, the Republic created a highly specialised centre where techniques could be refined and passed down from generation to generation. From then on, Murano gradually became synonymous with excellence.

Today, while walking through Murano's narrow streets, it is hard to imagine that this extraordinary tradition actually began in Venice itself. Yet that decision, made more than seven centuries ago, transformed Murano into the world-famous home of artistic glass.



Visiting Murano today means discovering this remarkable journey. Watching master glassmakers at work inside a furnace is the best way to understand how a centuries-old tradition, born in Venice and perfected on Murano, is still alive today.