Canals in the Veneto

Murano

Twilight in Venice

Padova

Grand Canal in Venice

Canal cities are not uncommon, but Venice is THE canal city. In most other places, canals are dug to drain the land or form transportation routes. In Venice the land was built up on the marsh and this formed the canals. There are no cars in Venice. Every form of transportation you would find on streets is found on the water. Buses become vaporetto, taxis become water taxis or gondole, bikes become rowboats, cars become private boats. Foot traffic still needs to be done on land. If any swimmers were to survive being run over by the many boats on the canals, the water itself would probably kill you. Beautiful as the canals are, they are basically open sewers.

Elizabeth Conte

Murano Glass - Meg

In Venice, Jennie and I took the vaporetto (water bus) to the island of Murano, to check out all the glass. A fair amount of the glass studios were open, and almost all of them were free, in the hopes that after you had watched the artists do their thing, you would go next door and purchase their wares. The first guys we saw were making vases. Apparently red glass is expensive because one of the things they use to make the glass red is gold.
All of the studios had cool detail work on the gates and doors, too, as would be expected.
Glass roses. It was fun watching all the big, burly Italian men sweating away to create these delicate little glass flowers.
Doorknobs on one of the shops.Glass rubble outside a studio.
Murano bus stop
Meg Chandler

The Island of Murano

For centuries, the world-renowned island of Murano in Venice, Italy has been famous for producing colorful, elaborate, and skillfully made glass. Murano’s reputation in glassmaking was born in 1921, when the Venetian Republic ordered all glassmakers to move out of Venice for fear of fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wood buildings. Since then, these artisans have developed or refined many techniques, including the production of crystalline glass, enameled glass, glass with threads of gold, multicolored glass, milk glass, and imitation gemstones made of glass. Visitors to the island can witness the glassmakers still employing the century-old techniques to produce everything from contemporary glass art and jewelry to chandeliers, wine stoppers, and other house-wares. The island can be easily reached by public water-bus, where visitors can enjoy an afternoon visiting the Museo Vetrario (Glass Museum), shopping in the many boutiques along the canals, and watching glassblowers at work.

Sara Anrrich