MURANO, BURANO AND TORCELLO, the classic island tour
Amongst the many islands of the lagoon, many of which have disappeared, the three most important islands deserve a visit.
Murano's fame is due to a traditional production of glass that had been concentrated here since the 13th century, but the island had already served as a place of refuge for fugitives from the mainland, and in later centuries the Venetian nobility built villas, monasteries and churches.
The island of Burano remained for centuries a fishing village, but grew in importance for the activity of lacemarking, with which women would occupy themselves as they awaited the return of their menfolk, and this is the spirit that visitors should have in mind, in order to appreciate the small coloured houses and the perfect union of water, man and environment.
Torcello, very close to Burano, remains - almost desert - an important centre of the origins of the venetian state: its position in respect to the mainland dictated its importance to the fugitives from mainland seeking some place for settlement. The visitor is immediatly struck from the peace of the environment and the extreme nobility of the 11th/12th century architecture of the sacred buildings: the church of Santa Fosca, the Baptistery and the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, with her world famous superb mosaic covering the end wall.
