79 images Created 6 Nov 2009
Italy-Venice's lagoon small islands, 5p.m. to 9 a.m.
VENETIAN LAGOON SMALL ISLANDS NIGHTLY LIFE.
Probably one of the most visited placet on the Earth, Venice, but few tourists explore the Lagoon small islands at night. Under the light of the moon, when along the narrow canals of Murano, Burano and Torcello local people meets at the cafés and the maintenance workers of the famous Murano's glass factories work all the night for the next day. Murano is famous for its glass making from 1291, when the glassmakers of Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. For centuries Murano's glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking and weren't allowed to leave the Venice republic. Today the artisans of Murano are still employing these centuries-old techniques and some of the historical glass factories in Murano are among the most important brands of glass in the world but the increasing concurrence of the cheaper Far East production more and more menaces this Venetian traditional industry. The tiny island of Burano scarcely is one of the most colorful places anywhere, with his brightly painted houses lining the narrow canals. The island rose in importance in the 16th century, when local women began making lace with needles exported across Europe. Few women still make lace in the traditional manner as it is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive and cannot struggle against Far East cheaper laces. Torcello, a sparsely populated island (only 16 people) at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon is considered the oldest continuously populated region of Venice. After the downfall of the Roman Empire Torcello was one of the first lagoon islands to be populated by Veneti who fled from the barbarian invasions and rapidly grew in importance as a political and trading centre. In the 10th century it had a population of at least 10,000 people and was much more powerful than Venice but the lagoon around the island gradually became a swamp and from the 12th century the population abandoned the island.
Probably one of the most visited placet on the Earth, Venice, but few tourists explore the Lagoon small islands at night. Under the light of the moon, when along the narrow canals of Murano, Burano and Torcello local people meets at the cafés and the maintenance workers of the famous Murano's glass factories work all the night for the next day. Murano is famous for its glass making from 1291, when the glassmakers of Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. For centuries Murano's glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking and weren't allowed to leave the Venice republic. Today the artisans of Murano are still employing these centuries-old techniques and some of the historical glass factories in Murano are among the most important brands of glass in the world but the increasing concurrence of the cheaper Far East production more and more menaces this Venetian traditional industry. The tiny island of Burano scarcely is one of the most colorful places anywhere, with his brightly painted houses lining the narrow canals. The island rose in importance in the 16th century, when local women began making lace with needles exported across Europe. Few women still make lace in the traditional manner as it is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive and cannot struggle against Far East cheaper laces. Torcello, a sparsely populated island (only 16 people) at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon is considered the oldest continuously populated region of Venice. After the downfall of the Roman Empire Torcello was one of the first lagoon islands to be populated by Veneti who fled from the barbarian invasions and rapidly grew in importance as a political and trading centre. In the 10th century it had a population of at least 10,000 people and was much more powerful than Venice but the lagoon around the island gradually became a swamp and from the 12th century the population abandoned the island.