History of Murano Glass

The history of Murano glass is interesting in the fact that it is the longest lasting center for glass making in history. It spans from the 9th century to today, and is full of beautiful and innovative artwork, success, failure and thankfully, a remarkable resiliency in the face of adversity. Because Murano does have such a long history, one can easily see the reflection of important events, including the Renaissance and Napoleon's conquest of Europe, and how they affected a small island of glassmakers in the Adriatic Sea.

First for readers uncertain of where Murano lies, it is a small island North West of the city of Venice, Italy -not much larger than a few square miles.

It is believed the origins of Murano Glass dates back to 9th century Rome, with significant Asian and Muslim influences, as Venice was a major trading port. Multihued perle (beads) were used in trading with Asian, African and Muslim neighbors.

Avventuria Clear glass with metal flecks, often copper, to create a shimmery, metallic look. The process is aptly named, as it means "adventure" describing the difficulty of working with this process.

Battuto "Beaten" Similar to inciso, but with deeper and broader cuts, can look similar to stylized fish scales.

Corroso "Corrosive" A surface treatment in which the glass is etched by dunking the finished object into a vat of acid. Masks of sawdust or paraffin are used to protect areas of the work that the artist does not want affected by the acid.

Cristallo A clear, highly malleable, colorless glass that can be blown into vessels with remarkably thin walls.

Filigrana A technique from the 1500's used to make items with an opaque white or colored glass core. Specially designed glass rods are placed in a furnace lengthwise and fused together. After fusion, they are blown and shaped. This technique has 3 additional patterns, depending on how the filaments are twisted and aligned. With mezza-filigrana, rods with one filament are used. a reticello is a diamond shaped pattern created by twisting two halves of an object in opposite directions while heating, distorting the straight lines of the filigrana rods, creating a diamond mesh pattern. a retortoli consists of 2 filaments twisted into a spiral.