Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
into Burano's backstreets, snapping away at pea green stockings hung to dry between hot
pink, royal blue and caution orange houses.
Burano is also famed for its handmade lace, which once graced the décolleté of
European aristocracy. Unfortunately the ornate styles and expensive table coverings fell
out of vogue in lean post-WWII times and the industry has since suffered a terminal de-
cline. Some women still maintain the traditions, but few production houses remain - with
the singular exception of
Emilia
( 041 73 52 99;
www.emiliaburano.it
;
Piazza Galuppi 205;
Burano)
, most of the lace for sale in local shops is of the imported, machine-made variety.
If you fancy a stroll, hop across the 60m bridge to Burano's even quieter sister island,
Mazzorbo
. Little more than a broad grassy knoll, Mazzorbo is a great place for a picnic or
a long, lazy lunch at winery
Venissa
(
041 527 22 81;
www.venissa.it
; Fondamenta Santa Caterina
. The LN
vaporetto
also stops at
3;
noon-3pm & 7-9.30pm Tue-Sun;
Mazzorbo)
Mazzorbo.
MUSEUM
Museo del Merletto
(Lace Museum; 041 4273 0892;
www.visitmuve.it
;
adult/reduced €5/3.50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-
Oct, to 4.30pm Nov-Mar; Burano)
Burano's newly renovated Lace Museum tells the story of
a craft that cut across social boundaries, endured for centuries and evoked the epitome of
civilisation reached during the Republic's heyday. From the triple-petalled corollas on the
fringes of the Madonna's mantle in Torcello's 12th-century mosaics to Queen Margher-
ita's spider web-fine 20th-century mittens, lace-making was both the creative expression
of female sensitivity and a highly lucrative craft.
Bringing it all to life, a group of local lacemakers sit tatting and gossiping beneath pic-
tures of the Lace School (where many of them learnt their craft), which was located here
from 1872 to 1970.
TOP OF CHAPTER
1
Torcello
On the pastoral island of Torcello, a three-minute T-line ferry-hop from Burano, sheep
outnumber the 14 or so human residents. This bucolic backwater was once a Byzantine
metropolis of 20,000, but of its original nine churches and two abbeys, only the striking
brick
Chiesa di Santa Fosca
(
Torcello)
and splendid mosaic-filled Santa
10am-4.30pm;
Maria Assunta remain.
