Trip to the Island of Burano

I took a side trip during my adventures in Venice/Murano, to have a fabulous lunch at the Black Cat Restaurant with friends on the island of Burano.

Burano is famous for its lace makers and fishermen and the amazing paint jobs on the houses of the town. Burano is one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon that has a permanent population. The whole island is made up of buildings that look a lot alike except for the colors they are painted and it is this difference that makes visiting Burano such an artistic delight. Along with the fantastic paint jobs on all the houses, the inhabitants like to put pots of beautiful blooming flowers on their window sills, to add to the over all beauty of the island.

You have to take a boat from Murano to get to Burano that takes about 45 minutes, but the Sunday lunch I had at the Black Cat Restaurant was worth the boat ride. I have eaten at the Black Cat (called Trattoria al Gatto Nero da Ruggero in Italian) before in years past, but the meal I had during this trip to Burano was absolutely fabulous. Since the male population on Burano are fishermen, the seafood dishes at the Black Cat are as fresh as any I have had and very delicious.

I first got to know the Black Cat Restaurant when my husband and I had the opportunity to buy murrini directly from the Glass Master Mario Dei Rossi, who makes some of the finest glass murrinis in the world. Mr. Dei Rossi lives on the island of Burano in a house full of interesting art of many kinds. It is no longer possible to buy murrini directly from Mr. Dei Rossi, but you can see what is available and for sale on mostlyglass.com if you are interested in such things. I am posting a photo of one of Mario Dei Rossi’s murrini in this blog for all of those folks who have never seen one. They are artistically remarkable and highly collectible.

The lace made on Burano is very fine and unique, but is a dying art form because it is so time consuming to produce and younger generations of Burano women do not want to stay on Burano and make lace anymore. If you ever have the chance to make your way to Burano, buy some lace work there (I have myself) because it will be no more in the near future and be highly collectable.

If you have time when you visit Burano in the future, take the boat ride a little further through the lagoon and visit the island of Turcello. There is a very fine restaurant there and an old monastery with beautiful gardens, making for a quiet and pleasing side trip.

First Day in Venice and Murano

For those of you who don’t know, Venice and Murano, Italy are two island cities situated in the Venetian Lagoon that is located at the far northern end of the Adriatic Sea. They are built on a series of mud flat islands with canals running through them like highways and bridges to connect the neighborhoods. The energy of Venice and Murano is very different from the other cities I have visited while in Italy because there are only two ways to get around and they are by boat or by walking.



Venice was once a great trade and shipping port and grew very prosperous and showed its wealth by building gorgeous palaces along the many canals that worm their way through the city. Venice grew in a very organic manner and the streets are so confusing that it can be maddening finding your way through the city.

For my first day in Venice, I decided to walk the less traveled sections of the city with one of my beadmaking friends Nicole from Switzerland, who flew down to Venice to hang out with me for a few days. When you stay out of the tourist sections of Venice, you get a very different feel from the city. Many of the streets we were on had very few people on them because rather than huge groups of tourists clogging the narrow lanes, there was just a scattering of locals making their way home.



As we made our way through the sometimes tiny streets of Venice, we found humble, beautiful old neighborhood churches and stairways to boarded up buildings that are speckled with moss and plants that give it a dreamy, lost-in-time appearance.

Another charming thing that you find as you wander through these parts of Venice is all the small shrines to the Madonna and Child and different Catholic saints. You find these peppered all through Venice and Murano and in fact I saw them in all the Italian cities I visited. There are often fresh flowers placed at these tiny shrines, showing that the neighborhoods really care for these little treasures.



Our last stop on our way back to Murano was Vittorio Costantini’s shop where he makes the most outstanding lampworked fish, birds, sea creatures and bugs. Vittorio’s shop is only s few blocks from where you pick up the bus boat (vaperetto) to Murano.

Vittorio regaled us with huge glass beetles that looked real and many other beautiful glass art objects for which he is world famous. It is always a joy to visit with Vittorio and marvel at how much he gets done in the tiny space that is his showroom and work area. If you ever get the chance, by all means go see Vittorio and all his marvelous work.