Burano

The island of Burano is located to the south east of Mazzorbo and looks on to Torcello to the north, Sant’Erasmo and San Francesco del Deserto to the south. With its 5,000 inhabitants, it is the most important centre of the northern Lagoon. It is connected to Venice by the public boat service of Actv. Probably inhabited since Roman times, Burano is crowded with small houses painted in bright colours, all different, to distinguish one from the next, and is the centre of activities like fishing and lacemaking. Tradition has that the bright colours helped the sailors to recognize their homes from many miles off and also the complex stitching and weaving of the laces seem to derive from the techniques used for making fish nets. The story goes that a sailor received from a mermaid a crown of sea foam that became a bridal veil for his distant fiancée, and also a model for the young girls of the island who copied it with needle and thread starting a centuries-old activity. Of the important pieces of sacred architecture once present in the island, only a few have been spared demolition. Four were the religious buildings still present at the time of the Napoleon’s domain and they were administered by the Torcello diocese: Santa Maria delle Grazie, called “le Cappuccine”, still existent but deconsecrated, San Mauro, San Vito and San Martino Vescovo, the present parish church.