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Murano – a Dream of Glass

Venice, the Serenissima of the Dogi. A maritime Federal Republic, and a great Mediterranean power. A florid and powerful empire of commerce since the 1400 and 1500. ‘Fantasy of the Orient’ of Sultans and Emperors. ‘Powerful in strength… and huge in virtue’ (Petrarca, writer). Listed by the UNESCO as Heritage of Humanity in 1987, it is the most appealing Italian city to tourists. It includes 150 channels and 120 isles and islets, like Chioggia, Torcello, Burano (lace crafts) and Murano (glass crafts). Canal Grande is the main intersection, while beautiful Piazza San Marco, with its Greek-cross plan Basilica, is a central rendez-vous. Next to the Basilica we find Palazzo Ducale, seat of the Dogi and a precious work of International Gothic art, made of luxurious rooms furnished with paintings by Titian, Gianbattista Tiepolo, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese.
But Venice is also events: the Venice Biennial Art Exhibition, the Cinema Festival and Carnival, which celebrates popular yet refined marks, and has become a quite fashionable occurrence.
The entire Region is a prosperous and serene land. Praised by writers like Goethe, Shakespeare and Thomas Mann, in early history it had been dominated by the Euganei, later chased away by the Veneti. Then it went through a gradual and peaceful romanization. In fact Romans and Veneti formed a successful alliance against the Gaulish. The entire region shows traces of the splendour of Venice both from an artistic and historical point of view. Cities like Verona (Roman, then Medieval and finally governed by the Della Scala; the Arena, Piazza delle Erbe and Juliet’s house…), Padua (the University, theScrovegni Chappel with frescoes by Giotto), Vicenza and Treviso. Then Rovigo, Chioggia, Bassano del Grappa, San Donà di Piave. Palladian villas, Goldonian style masks and the ‘colorismo veneto’, in other words the use of bright and vivid colours in paintings, which express both aesthetic measure and joie de vivre.