Venice – Northern Islands
San Michele Islands north of Venice. Murano, Burano and Torcello are the places, where you can break away from the crowds of tourists filling the city center, they are also the source of most glassware and lace, which you see in many Venetian stores. –
Trams to the islands depart from Fondamente Nuove. Vaporetto # 5 runs every approx. 15 min. of San Michele and Murano, while Burano and Torcello can be reached by mporetto # 12 (co 1-1, 5 time.; going to Burano 45 min., and further it is close). You can also board this ship on Murano, but only at the Faro stop.
San Micheal
The island-cemetery of San Michele is surrounded by a high brick wall, which, close to the marina, gives way to the elegant white façade of San Michele in Isola, designed by Mauro Coducci a year 1469. By erecting this church, Coducci not only contributed to the promotion of Renaissance architecture in Venice, but also to popularize Istrian stone as a building material. The one that can be easily processed, but water-resistant stone was previously used as a protection against moisture at ground level, but the entire facade was never built of it. Since the Renaissance, it has become the raw material for the construction of most important buildings in Venice.
The main part of the island (passage through the cloisters) there is a municipal cemetery, founded by Napoleon's decree, and today, and so does the church, maintained by the Franciscans (codz. 8.15-16.00). Most of the dead Venetians only lie here through 10 years, later their bones are excavated and placed in a special ossuary, and the place is used for the next grave. Only richer families can afford to keep the graves longer. The cemetery is divided into quarters (you can get a free plan at the entrance), of which the Protestant headquarters is the most neglected (No. XV; Ezra Pound has his grave here). The graves of Orthodox Christians are located in the quarter no, m.in. modest tombstones of Igor and Vera Stravinsky and more sophisticated, always decorated with flowers tomb of the Russian ballet master Sergei Diaghilev.
Murano
Murano is mainly known as the center of the glass industry in Venice, and its main fondaments are crammed with small shops selling sometimes quite tasteful glassware. But don't give up hope: the island has other attractions.
The glass manufacturing plants were moved to Murano in the year 1291 to secure them, and the people of Murano began to guard the production secret so jealously, that they had a monopoly on mirrors in Europe for a long time. Glaziers were also entitled to privileges unavailable to other craftsmen, such as the right to bear a sword. For a year 1376 marriages concluded by Venetian nobles with the daughters of glaziers were placed in Libro d'Oro, which has not been done for other inter-class marriages.
The glass-making process is much more interesting than the final product. Numerous glass furnaces can be viewed here free of charge, which the owners assume, that every visitor buys something later, but they are not putting too much pressure on it. Many of these workshops are located on Fondamenta dei Vereri, which, as the name suggests, is a traditional center of this industry.
At the time of the fall of the Venetian Republic, Murano was located 17 churches, of which only two remain to this day. One of them is the Gothic Dominican Church of San Pietro Martire, the construction of which began in the year 1363, but after a fire in a year 1474 it was significantly rebuilt. Its main attraction is the large and, as always, elegant painting by Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child, st. Mark and Augustine, and with the Doge Barbarigo (1488). Second painting by Bellini, Rapture, is currently under maintenance.
GLASS MUSEUMS
Near, on Fondamenta Cavour, in the Palazzo Giustinian is the Museo Vetrario (glass museum; pn., wt. and Thu-Sat. 10.00-16.00, nd. and holidays 9.00-12.30; 3000L). The collection includes many exhibits from Roman times, but the earliest surviving Murano glassware dates back to the 15th century. Descriptions are very sketchy and only in Italian, you can't buy a guide either, but some items nonetheless, e.g.. drinking vessels used by the 16th century aristocracy, they are also fascinating without detailed description. An interesting exhibition in a separate room illustrates the history of the development of the Murano glassmaking technique (descriptions here are exhaustive, also in English). It is worth paying attention to the unusual technique of Murine in Lanna: by touching the multicolored rods, a cross-section of the old figure was created.
A ticket to this museum also allows you to visit the recently opened museum of the modern glass industry at Fondamenta Manin (opposite the Fondamenta Vereri; te same godz. opening). There are many glassware here, which look like examples of contemporary sculpture, as well as several sculptures, which in effect resemble giant glass vessels. There are also some really interesting exhibits here, e.g.. a figure of a child made by Alfredo Borbini, which is similar to a lava sculpture, and a mirror with Piero Fomasetti's golden leaf.
SANTI MARIA AND DONATO
The most important monument on Murano is founded in the 7th century and rebuilt in the 12th, Venetian-Byzantine Church of Santi Maria e Donato (codz. 8.00-12.00 i 16.00-19.00). Beautiful mosaics on the floor, from the year 1141 (date engraved in the nave), combine abstract elements with figures of animals and birds (e.g.. a ravishing deer eagle or two roosters carrying a fox suspended on a pole). Initially, the church was named after Mary, but in a year 1125, when from Cephalonia (one of the Ionian islands) relics of St.. Donato, one more patron was added to him. Behind the altar hang four huge bones attributed to the dragon, who was killed by the saliva of St.. Donato, apparently having a powerful effect. In the apse above them you can see a 12th-century mosaic depicting the Madonna and 15th-century frescoes with four evangelists. You can buy a guide here, and the proceeds from its sale go to the renovation of the church.