Murano

Murano consists of nine separate islands grouped around a grand canal and is specialized in the manufacture of glass. Glass blowing is an ancient and magic activity, still thriving, that employed generations of its islanders. The Glass Museum (open from November to end of March fm 10.00 a.m. to 04.00 p.m. and from April to October fm 10.00 a.m. to 05.00 p.m. Closed on Wednesdays) is well worth a visit to get a clear idea of how tastes and techniques have evolved within the glass industry and how the various instruments on display were used during the different phases of glass manufacture. It occupies Palazzo Giustiniani, a large palace on the Lagoon former seat of the Torcello Bishop, and displays a very rich collection of precious examples, from the XV century to our days, of an activity that gave fame and prosperity to the island. Not far from the museum, there is one of the most attractive edifice on the island and one of the oldest in the whole of the Lagoon, the Church of Santa Maria and San Donato, completed in 1140, one of the best examples of Venetian Byzantine style (visiting time: from Monday to Saturday from 09.00 a.m. to 12.00 a.m. and from 03.30 p.m. to 07.00 p.m., while on Sundays from 03.30 p.m. to 07.00 p.m.).