“Detourism: La newsletter di Venezia”, the official Town of Venice Tourism Office Newsletter, takes us to a special tour to the island of Burano! Enjoy your reading!

Venetian lace-making art.

A FEW LACE MAKERS ON THE ISLANDS OF BURANO AND PELLESTRINA KEEP THE TRADITION ALIVE.

Burano is the island of needle lace, still produced by using only needle and thread, according to techniques that have been carried on over generations. The first Venetian lace dates back to the Renaissance. Originally, lace making was a noblewomen pastime, but soon spread throughout Europe. In the seventeenth century, the era of lace par excellence, the Venetian lace became a symbol of power and elegance, particularly appreciated by Louis XIV, the Sun King.

The secrets of this noble and ancient art are kept by the association of expert lace makers who still live in Burano. While walking around the island, you are likely to see them in the ateliers and shops, weaving intricate pieces of lace; on weekends you can often meet them at the Burano Lace Museum, and even ask them how to get the famous Venice point or Burano point. The museum is located in the spaces of the historic Burano’s lace school, founded in 1872 by Countess Andriana Marcello, lady-in-waiting to Margherita of Savoy.

Lace making is a tradition still alive on the island of Pellestrina, too. Pellestrina lace, unlike Burano needle lace, is made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on wooden bobbins to manage them. Today, the unique rhythm of the bobbins passing quickly through the hands of local lace makers, practising their craft seated in front of their house, can be still heard in the streets of the villages on the island.

The art of Venetian lace-making, together with other types of Italian lace, has been nominated for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Besides, Burano lace is expected to be granted a ‘geographical indication’ recognition by the European Union.

Watch the video about the Burano lace makers

[fonte: La newsletter di Venezia, n. 23 del 18.11.2021]
[immagine: jayneandd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

We are proud to publish some selected contents of such newsletter (see previous post: “Detourism for the Up and Down the Bridges“). On our website, in several episodes, we will only present some samples (see all posts in our archive page “Detourism Newsletter“), but the invitation addressed to all the friends of the Up and Down the Bridges is to subscribe to the newsletter directly.
Special thanks to the Councillor for Tourism for having enthusiastically welcomed this new important collaboration between TGS Eurogroup and the Tourism Office of the Town of Venice and for giving us the precious opportunity to publish on the pages of this blog some extracts from this newsletter, both in Italian and in English.

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