Category: Venice, Murano

What’s happening in Venice and Murano, Meet the artisans.

Another Crisis in Murano: Glass Furnaces Re-Start Costs

I always knew we in the Murano Glass, Venetian Glass and beads world were a small eco system. But COVID19 and the resultant shutdown of Italy, most specifically Venice and Murano have really brought it home. 
Venetians say we hate tourist and the annoyance to our daily lives they create. UNESCO says Venice can’t maintain the volume of tourist. The list of grievances goes on and on: 
1) we can’t get on a vaporetto because the entrance way is blocked by tourist who have no clue where they are going 2) we can’t get on a vaporetto because the tourist have piled more luggage than the explorers searching for the Northwest Passage 3) tourist eating take away food on the steps of a church or someone’s front door step 4) tourist taking a swim in the canal 5) tourist who behave badly or walk around Piazza San Marco in bikinis 6) tourist rentals that displace locals 7) tourist who do not respect the history of Venice. 

You get the point, pretty much everything the tourist does annoys someone and with valid reasons.

When Italy closed everything in early March, that put an end to tourist and not a surprise, it put an end to a lot of other things. Italians had a strict 200 Meter (656 feet) distance they could travel from their house except for the grocery store or the doctor and even then they had to download and print a document to show to the local police. Churches, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, cafes, well everything an Italian holds near and dear was closed. 
And along with that all the tourist shops in Venice and Murano were closed which meant that there was no longer a demand for Murano glass. And this is where our little eco system fell apart. I had never thought much about how dependent those of us who sell Venetian Glass, Murano Glass, and Murano Glass beads were on this tourist business. Individually, none of us can support the island of Murano and the furnaces. But as an ecosystem, we all get what we need and we keep the furnaces burning…..until
Until we didn’t! The furnaces require a number of days to cool the furnaces without cracking everything. This article in Forbes of an interview with Fabiano Amadi of Ars Cenedese, a prestigious furnace in Murano supplying glass world wide gives you a pretty good idea of how difficult it was for them to shutdown and the hurdles they are encountering to reopen. Because even though Italy did it’s part and is now in a good place to re-open….The rest of the world did not match the strick shutdown and therefore many countries are still not allowed back in Italy, specifically the US. Which means that even though the shops in San Marco can open, there are not tourist to buy. Museums, malls and small galleries across the US are only just now able to open again with some restrictions, which means that the demand for Murano glass is still very low.

Read the Article in Forbes written by Rebecca Ann Hughes 

Dark Days For Italy’s Historic Murano Glass Industry

To keep a furnace working is expensive whether it is a gas or electric furnace. To create glass sculptures requires a crew of a minimum of 3 and depending on the piece 5 well trained glass blowers. Then there is the person who mixes the batch, from raw mineral elements and the time it takes to get a batch ready to work. Today most furnaces do not have sufficient orders from both Venice/Murano and foreign buyers to keep their furnaces heated. And without sufficient orders they face another shutdown of the furnaces and the days or weeks it will take on both sides of a shutdown plus the cost of repairs and maintenance.
From our beads perspective, we have only one furnace which creates all the glass canes we use, but they also depend on the orders of all the small bead makers and lamp workers of Venice and the surrounding areas as well as major suppliers of glass canes across the world. And since I can’t buy every bead every bead maker can produce, we need those shops selling jewelry in Venice and Murano to be ordering new jewelry creating a demand for more beads, more canes and of utmost importance, more work for the Muranese.
So I keep buying way more beads than we need. It helps feed families in Murano and Venice as well as helping make their rent payment and keep my little part of the ecosystem working for better days.

Celebrating the End of the Plague in Venice

Who knew something celebrated first more than 400 years ago could be so pertinent to our lives in the 21st Century?
The third Sunday of July is Redentore, a celebration of the end of the plague of 1575-1577 which decimated the population of Venice. More than 46,000 or about 25-30% of the population died in this period. 
Is any of this sounding familiar to you? 
This year, the world can identify with the crisis that struck Venice in 1575. With no modern medicine or scientific research, they understood enough to know that humans passed on the disease so the doctors wore protective cloating and the famous “doctor mask”. The invention of the masks as well as the protective cloak they were is said to have originated in Naples some years early and eventually became used all over Europe. They did not understand about germs, rather thought that it was the “miasma”, bad air which they thought was the cause. The doctors filled the grotesque beak with herbs and spices. The masks below are sold today in the shops in Venice are are certainly not as scary.

Il Redentore (the Redeemer) church was build as a votive (offering) in thanksgiving of the end of the plague. It is a magnificent church designed by Andrea Palladio, the famous architect from Padua, Italy.  It was commissioned by la Serenissima, the Republic of Venice and its cornerstones were laid in May of 1577.  Construction took some time and it was finished in 1592. 

It sits on the islands of Giudecca with a perfect viewing from Piazza San Marco. 
Each year since then, the citizens of Venice have celebrated the end of the plague with a solemn procession of the officials of the city (originally the Doge – now the Mayor) walk along with the patriarch of the city over a well constructed pontoon bridge. The bridge is constructed by the city and is open just in time for the long walk across the Giudecca Canal from a location just in back of the Santa Maria delle Salute (across the canal from Piazza San Marco). The bridge has a high section which still allows for the local vaporetti (boats) to pass as you can see in the picture above a vaporetto is just going under the bridge. Larger vessels are not allowed when the bridge is complete. The bridge is promptly removed during the night at the end of the 3rd Sunday and water traffic flows as usual.

<p id="In normal years, that is years with a global Corona Virus, it is the best Venetian party ever with boats filling the basin between Piazza San Marco and Giudecca loaded with good (and of course lots to drink). The festivities begin early with preparation of food taking days. Boats begin staking our their favorite places about 3 in the afternoon. About 9 pm a magnificent fireworks show begins and there is no bad seat in the basin of San Marco. But this year with Italy just emerging from their lockdown, there were no fireworks. There were tables along the shores with locals gathered just to enjoy the freedom of having dinner outside among friends.
‘Til next year, when we sincerely hope the celebration is indeed for the end of our current Virus.

Festa della Sensa, Venice Marriage to the Sea

The Festa de la Sensa is held each year to celebrate the marriage of Venice to the Sea. It was first celebrated on 9 May 1000 when the Doge Pietro II Orseolo conquered Dalmatia (parts of which are now known as Croatia) The second was in 1177 when The Doge Sebastiano Ziani, Pope Alexander II and the Holy Roman emperor, Frederick Barbarossa entered into the Treaty of Venice. The Pope took a ring from his finger asked the Doge to throw it into the sea, Each year, the Doge dropped a ring into the sea inscribed in Latin “We wed thee, sea, as a sign of true and everlasting domination.” Thus declaring Venice and the sea to be one.
 It is held on the closest Sunday to Ascension. This year, that is 24 May 2020 in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic.

An elaborate boat, representing the Bucintoro, but far from the elegance and grandeur of the original, is rowed to the Island of Lido  where the mayor of Venice performs the same ritual and a wreath of green is dropped into the sea. 
The Bucintoro is a replica as after the fall of the Venetian Republic on January 9, 1798, French soldiers cut the decorations of the boat into small pieces and took them across to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and set fire to them to retrieve the gold.
The ceremony of May 2020 was held in a much smaller version with just the mayor and the patriarch of Venice and of course the rowers. It was held despite the ongoing virus concerns, reminding us all that Venice has endured: at least 2 plagues, assault from the other city-states of Italy, being conquered by Napoleon (albeit not a shot was fired – thank you Doge Manin). It survived under the rule of the Hapsburg’s, survived World War I and II, and its traditions continue. 
Venice will endure.

Update from Murano

The latest from Murano during their shut down. They are in their 9th week and now a few things are beginning to open. It is a welcome for everyone, that they may, hopefully, begin getting their espresso and cappuccino again soon.Venice has been extremely fortunate to have few cases of COVID19 and still in Murano, we do not hear of even one case.
But the impacts of the shutdown of everything, and the lack of tourist has a ripple effect throughout the community. Now I know I like to complain about the quantity of tourist, their lack of sensibilities, their lack of respect of monuments, buildings, and especially their lack of respect the older people of Venice. 
BUT, the fact is that Venice and Murano need the tourist. It is their main source of income. The restaurants (like the restaurants all over the world) are suffering during this and no expenses do not stop just because you are closed. The bills for rents, mortgages, utilities, insurance and I am sure there are others continue to arrive in the post. 
So I have been strategizing with them on ways I can help once they are back open. Yet the larger issue is when will the tourists return. 
So here again is a letter from my dear friend who sees the future as bleak at this moment. What I want you to get from this is the sincerity with which Venetians, Muranese (even the men) can speak. They are not afraid to show emotions whatever they may be. It is part of why I love this little piece of the earth so much. And we’ve been through many years together, marriages, divorces (yes occasionally even in Italy), births, first communions, birthdays, and sadly, deaths in our families. Yet through all of this they speak from their heart, with compassion….We could all learn a lot.

Letter from Murano

Since we started importing some 30 years ago, my suppliers have become like family to us. And by extension their families feel the same way. This is an extremely difficult time for Murano whose lifes and livelihoods have been threatened many times in history. The older generation can still remember World War II and the aftermath of a devastated economy. And World War II was upon them even before they recovered from WWI. 
One of my friends in Murano sent me this very lovely message. A man of very few words, I was so touched by his concern for Murano, all the small businesses, restaurants, bars, artisans and yet, still able to see the beauty in the lagoon. And his concern for us.

It is a time in the world when we should stand together.

Carnevale 2020 Venice

Carnevale Venice is something everything should see at least once. Scenes like this one you find all over the city with people in elegant costumes doing very normal things like having their morning coffee or on the vaporetto. It is a bit sureal with people in costumes from the 1700 and 1800 centuries texting and making photos with their  Iphones. 
This year, there are many events more than years before. Last Sunday there was a children’t parade in Murano. On Friday afternoon we went to a full-blown parade of Disney in Lido. The event in Lido was probably promoted to secure the election of Brugnaro which is upcoming as it was paid for by the City administration and absolutely cost a lot. But the children enjoyed enormously.
 This beautiful couple I found on my way to my favorite coffee spot. They were walking to Piazza San Marco to join today’s events. Every morning I walk the city early before everyone arrives as it is my favorite time of day. I walked to Piazza San Marco and with absolutely no line I went inside the incredible Basilica San Marco. It always amazes me how these incredible people could make a basilica (or any building as a matter of fact) with the detail and in the scale they did beginning in 800’s. I am also always grateful that none of the world wars damaged this beautiful church. I headed up the steep, narrow steps to walk on top of the church and to view the piazza from this prized position. There were still few people in the piazza. 

The tiles on the floors of San Marco are amazing especially if you consider that there were no modern tools. The large scale of the church and the incredible detail are a credit to these ancient architects which have endured for about 1200 years. 
 
One of my favorite costumes this year was this one made entirely from newspapers. The style is traditional Venetian Carnevale just made of paper. Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain this week. I am waiting for Fat Tuesday (Martedi Grasso) to see who wins the costume and to unveil my costume.

….Brenda in Venice

Carnevale Ends with the Flight of the Leone

For those of you who follow VenetianBeadShop, you know that we are in Venice “working” and enjoying Carnevale. The weather has been beautiful, warmer than usual. Today is the closing and it ends with the flight of the Leone. When I first went to Carnevale, I thought someone dressed as a lion would slideup the wire to the top of the tower in San Marco…But it is the flag of the Republic of La Serenissima that flies closing Carnevale.

There have been some beautiful creative costumes and many of the classic well-known style. This costume with the moon is so clever and right on with the theme of  this year, but it was a bit difficult to manoeuvre through the crowds. My personal favorites are those people make themselves. But many people wear masks they purchased on the walk to San Marco Square.

On Saturday before the close of Carnevale, an estimated 60,000 people arrived in Venice, most of them for just a few hours. My solution to the crowds is to take a breather in the Correr Museum, gives you a great view of the crowds, surrounded by the history of Venice and while everyone else is trying to find bathrooms and food, I am enjoying wandering around an world class museum with lots of very clean bathrooms and a charming cafe with Prosecco, Wine, Tea, Sandwiches and best of all: chairs to rest and it is inside in case the weather is bad. (If you are handicapped, inquire for the elevator.)

And while I am in the Correr Museum, I get a chance to learn a little more about the history of Venice browsing through the rooms filled with the collection of Teodoro Correr which he bequeathed to the city of Venice. There is also a collection of jewelry from a few centuries ago. And we thought we invented the tassel! It is clear that gold has always been in style.

Some of my favorite costumes were the “Steam Punk” and a group about 50 people arrived from outside Venice on the train all in costume. We had a short phase of Steam Punk jewelry in the US, but apparently it’s a genre still very popular around the world. And in Venice there are tons of masks in case you want to have this costume for next year.

 

And so Carnevale ended with the traditional flight of the “Leone”, the Flag of the Republic of Venice and the anthem, a somber finish to the fun and frolic of Carnevale di Venezia. (The Republic existed for over a millennium between the 7th century and the 18th century from 697 AD until 1797 AD when Doge Manin surrendered to Napoleon.) The fog which had obscured the tower cleared just in time for the Leone.

And my personal end to Carnevale is the last frittelle at my favorite morning coffee shop on the day after Carnevale ends as they will not be made again until Carnevale 2020.

Carnevale Ends with a Fritelle

Watch our short collection of the nearly 2,000 pictures I made of costumes and scenes from Carnevale 2019

Until next year…..

Redentore 2017

Redentore 2017 Venice Celebrating the End of the Plague

by blogvenice • July 24, 2017 • 0 Comments

The end of the plague is always a cause for celebration, even if it ended in 1576. And fortunately, for all of us, the Doge Alvise Mocenigo kept his promise and built the magnificent Church of the Redeemer aka Il Redentore which was consecrated in 1592. Today it is celebrated not only as a religious holiday but the biggest party in Venice – where Venetians actually participate. The car park at Piazzale Roma and Tronchetto are full by midday and the buses and trains coming in to Venice are packed with locals coming into to enjoy the fireworks.

The bacino (basin) in front of San Marco is full of locals on boats of every size and shape beginning about 5 p.m. The boats begin arriving laden with food and drinks and they stay until the last barrage of fireworks is lite about midnight. Locals celebrate on the waterfront of Giudecca and San Marco anywhere there is a space with a view of the fireworks. It is like a block party along the waterfront with a kind of pot luck dinner in the neighborhoods.

Here’s a few minutes of the fireworks (fuochi d’artificio).  I love seeing the gondolas silently rowing through. The cheering and conversations are also enjoyable. If you have a hard time understand some words, some of it is in Venetian dialect. Thanks to my friends in Venice and Lido for the up close pictures taken from his gondola. You can see the outline of the gondola in the pictures above.https://www.youtube.com/embed/rIzy0IM-XJk?feature=oembed

It still represents a pilgrimage to the citizens of Venice. The city constructs this amazing pontoon bridge each year so Venetian faithfuls can walk across. It is a lot of work to make this bridge that crosses the Giudecca Canal but the crews in Venice are seasoned and they get it done. You can see they take into account the need for the boat traffic as you see the vaporetto just going under the bridge. The vaporetti lines are suspended during the fireworks so if you are on Giudecca for the fireworks, the bridge is your fastest way back across to Venice as the vaporetto lines are super crowded when they begin normal operations. The bridge opened at 7 pm Saturday night connecting the Zattere to the Church and remained open until Sunday night.  During Sunday night these hardworking crews dismantle the bridge and get ready for the next big pontoon bridge which will be in November for Santa Maria della Salute, a tribute to the end of another plague in 1630.

The church was designed by the architect Andrea Palladio. President of the US, Thomas Jefferson admired Palladio’s style of architecture and the US Capitol building in Washington DC is a version of Palladio’s designs. The 111th Congress of the US called Palladio the “Father of American Architecture”.

The paintings in the basilica include famous Venetians and Italians of the 16th Century: Francesco Bassano, Lazzaro Bastiani, Carlo Sarceni, Leandro Bassano, Palma, Jacopo Bassano, Francesco Bissolo, Rocco Marconi, Paolo Veronese, Alvise Vivarini and housed the workshop of Tintoretto, a who’s who of famous Venetian painters.

This year to celebrate the 450th anniversary of birth of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), there was a concert in the church, performed by Ensemble Musica Venezia. More fun events included a children’s twin-oared “pupparini” boat regatta and gondola races. The final event was the solemn Votive Mass at the chiesa.

Here is another really good video – professional and I have certainly been outdone. It has been set to music. Enjoy it. (Sorry for the ads which may be in Italian or not?)

Redentore Fireworks Set to Music

But aside from all the incredible history of the basilica, get on with the party. Preparations begin weeks in advance, deciding whose boat to take, what time to leave, where to pick up your friends and above all what to cook! There are certain staples:

  • Baccalà  Mantecato
  • Sarde and or Scampi in Saor
  • Polenta
  • Prosecco
  • Insalata di Riso
  • Scampi in Saor

And for me, they include prosciutto because I have only learned recently to appreciate the finer qualities of Baccalà Mantecato and am still working on developing the love of Sarde in Saor or the Scampi version, though I love the shrimp when they fry them before inundating them with vinegar and onions for the required 2 days of soaking! Who doesn’t love a sweet fried shrimp?

Glass Conference in Murano and Fashion Show

Waiting for the Fashion Show

The island of Murano was host to the GAS (Glass Art Society) with world wide participation. Everyone who works with glass paid tribute to the heritage of Murano. This week it was evident and the pure joy and excitement of the students of glass as they wandered around the island was abundantly obvious. While I might not completely agree with GAS selection of artist and venues, I do not believe that anyone went home unhappy with the experience.

I met artists from all over the world who paid $100+ dollars to tour Murano glass factories and watch maestri from around the world work alongside Muranese in the furnaces of Barovier & Toso, Venini, Effetre and Carlo Moretti. These are not your “tourist” factories, but truly production facilities and home to some of the most famous Maestri of Murano. There were presentations every day by the best in the business.

The Life Time Achievement Award was presented to the family of the famous Pino Signoretto as he unfortunately died late last December. His works are known around the world and many students from Pilchuck in Seattle were in attendance. 

One of the more important discussion panels focused on the environmental issues of the minerals used to achieve the bright colors we all love. The panel included academics in chemistry and physics as the making of glass involves both. Specifically, the use of Cadium, Arsenic, and Lead. Glass producers, large and small are attempting to find a substitute as it is an essential mineral for some of our favorite colors, like red, rubino and opaque colors. The major risk is not in the end use of the glass, but for those who work producing the batch (made from soda, sand, and minerals) which are a hazard to breath when making the batch; for those involved in the working of the molten glass and for those who reheat the glass (such as lampworkers).Inhaling cadmium-laden dust quickly leads to respiratory tract and kidney problems which can be fatal (often from renal failure). There is a race to resolve this problem, and I only hope that the first one to achieve this goal is not allowed to patent the process as that would prohibit small furnaces from making their own glass. For those who depend on the glass rods from Effetre Moretti, we hope they find a solution quickly.

But the best part of the entire conference for me was the Glass Fashion Show. The artist had made their own outfits, some costumes took as long as 5 months to complete and one weighed about 70 pounds.

Several were lighted like Christmas Trees and glowed beautifully against the background of the water. It is a tradition at the end of the conference, but this year, the models arrived in gondolas and floated down the Rio del Vetrai. Both sides of the canal were crowded with the attendees of the conference gleefully drinking Spritz (the local favorite). Locals were watching out their windows upstairs. I left the sounds from the crowd as it gives you an idea of how rowdy and enthusiastic it was.

The conference concluded with a giant party on the grounds of the San Pietro Church with local foods and drinks, music and dancing lasting to the wee hours. Sunday morning was quiet as every one recuperated!  The opinion of many was that Murano should be the host of the conference again soon!

Abate Zanetti in Murano – Technical School

Abate Zanetti – Glass Gondola – Exhibit circa 2006-7

Murano has converted the Abate Zanetti School of Glass into a technical institute. Abbot Vincenzo Zanetti founded the school in 1826 as a design school for the glass workers of Murano, fought to improve the living and working conditions on the island and pay standards. It continues to offer glass classes attended by blowers and bead makers from around the world with guest instructors from the great Maestri in Murano and other internationally aclaimed glass workers from around the world. In recent years these classes have been attended only by foreign students who can afford the 2-3 weeks intense sessions, away from work. Now the school will be devoted to the young people of Murano along with the profitable business of hosting international artists.

Students attending will be required to study Italian Language and Literature, English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and naturally their will a heavy emphasis on glass blowing classes, practical production classes, manufacturing technogoly and still time for creativity.

Rare Bead Cards on Exhibit at Abate Zanetti

For those of us who hope younger generations will follow the paths of their family, it is great news. The older generation of glass blowers began apprenticing at the age of 12 or 13. They were the lowest of the lowly in the hierarchy of glass blowers, the one who brought tools and suffered the moods of the Maestro. There was no time for schooling. This was particularly true right after World War II when the furnaces had been abandoned because the men had been sent to war.

Murano Children Learn Fusing

The generations of the 80s and 90s found few of the children and grandchildren of these wonderful maestri at work in the furnaces, though the names on the fused piece in the picture above pays tribute to family names of many legendary glass blowers. It is hard, hot work. So when the founders whose passion for the furnaces die, the furnaces close.

Martina Semenzato, President of Abate Zanetti says: “This joint institute aims to provide its students all the theoretical and technical expertise to decide whether, once the cycle of studies, continuing with a university course or become actively involved in the world of work and the glass production, relying on in-depth knowledge and solid experience in the furnace, fusing and to lamp working”.

Take a tour of the school through it’s website

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