The first furnace of the Venice lagoon
03/11/2021
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The news about Murano are known and widely reported on the web. It goes from its name which derives from one of the doors of Altino “Amurianum”.
The first historical document, a notarial deed of 982, in which a mention is made of a Murano who was a fiolario, that is, a glass blower.
To the edict by which Doge Tiepolo in 1291 forced all the furnaces in Venice to move to Murano, vox populi to prevent fires.
I was lucky enough to see what was the first furnace in the Venice lagoon.
I don’t remember well if it was 1961 or 1962 and when I arrived Torcello by boat with my father, I was 8-9 years old, we saw some excavations near the church of Santa Fosca north of Locanda Cipriani.
The excavations were done by Polish archaeologists. At the bottom of the excavation, about 2 meters deep, there was a circular structure that unequivocally resembled the base of a melting furnace for glass.
We asked and they confirmed that this was the furnace of a glass workshop dated VII-IX, practically the first furnace in the Venice lagoon.
It was customary for a furnace to be created near the Byzantine churches to produce tesserae for mosaics and other glass objects.
The glass fragments and slag found testified that a great productive activity flourished in that furnace in the VII-IX century.
Every now and then, thinking back to this episode, I am happy and proud to have seen the seed from which the millenary history of Murano glass.
The Murano Glam Artisan Glassware is a reference point for the production and wholesale and retail purchase of original Murano glass objects and works. Maestro Francesco Salvadori specializes in the art of Murano blown glass, a skill handed down from generation to generation.
