Day 15 - Murano, Burano and Mazzorbo
First day in Venice
July 6, 2023: We spent July 6 and 7 in Venice, a city famous for its scenic canals with intricate bridges, gondolas, water taxis and impressive architecture. We were welcomed to Venice with rain, so our first impression of the city was a little chaotic. We had hired a private water taxi to take us to our hotel, but we had trouble locating him. We walked all over only find him back where we originally started. It was crazy! Our tour guide was waiting for us at our hotel to take us on a 6-hour tour of Murano, Burano and Mazzorbo. We considered canceling due to the weather, but in the end decided to just go with the flow. So after dropping off our luggage with the concierge, we headed out with our guide Cloi to meet our another water taxi. The first stop was Murano where we toured a glass blowing factory and studio. We watched a maestro and his two apprentices working on some glasswork. Unfortunately, one broke while they were working on it which we learned does happen periodically. A hazard of the trade.
The origins of glassmaking in Venice go back to the times of the Roman Empire. Blending Roman experience with the skills learned from the Byzantine Empire and trade with the Orient, Venice emerged as a prominent glass-manufacturing center as early as the 8th century. One of the earliest furnaces for glass on a Venetian island, dating from the 8th century, was discovered by archaeologists in 1960. A law established in 1291 required that all furnaces used for glassmaking be moved from Venice to Murano to avoid the risk of fire from the furnaces spreading onto the largely wooden structures of overpopulated Venice. Many historians agree that the true motive for this law was to isolate the glass craftsmen to a location where they wouldn’t be able to disclose trade secrets. A subsequent law passed in 1295 forbidding the glassmakers from leaving the city confirms this theory.
After our tour, we walked around the island a little before heading to Burano island, famous for it’s lace and colored houses. We had completed a puzzle last year of a canal in Venice. We did not realize it was Burano at the time, but we were able to find the exact location where the picture in the puzzle was taken. It was fun to see it in person! We grabbed lunch at a restaurant called Trattoria da Romano where we had the best risotto I have had since coming to Italy and we shared a piece of cake that had soft meringue and vanilla filling. Yum! 🤤
Burano is also famous for their biscuits. The historic Carmelina Palmisano’s bakery started in 1926 is located in Burano where they make “bussolai”. This biscuit is made with only a few ingredients but is a favorite of the Venetians and tourists alike, us included! Our tour guide gave us a bag of them as a gift at the end our day together. We did a final stop at Mazzorbo which is an even smaller island and just did a little walk about. There is a show with Stanley Tucci called “Searching for Italy” and in Season 2, Episode 1 he visits Venice. One of the restaurants highlighted in the show is on Mazzorbo. We walked by it and saw the herb gardens talked about in the show. There are also artichokes growing. The original ‘castraure’ comes only from this island and are protected by a special label that protects them from imitations.
We met our water taxi in Mazzorbo and headed back to Venice island. We said goodbye to Cloi and then went to our hotel to check into our room. They have a beautiful terrace on the rooftop so we went up for an Apertivo before heading out for dinner at Ristorante Principessa by the Venice lagoon. Unfortunately, it was one of the worst meals we had so far on the trip. We closed out the night with a slow walk back to our hotel and nightcap back up on the terrace. A wonderful first day in Venice!