Burano: a small island with its thousand colours, small houses and their bright shades, every one next to the other, just as a painter would have painted them with his own hand. Why am I talking about this? Because I found out that Burano, on top of being incredibly beautiful and multi-coloured, it is also a nest of traditions, legends and curious facts. My discoveries have been possible only because I threw myself headlong into a cultural tour, putting me in contact with this Venetian island’s beauts.
Following a really friendly girl, born and raised in Burano, I went around the small alleys of this island together with other curious visitors and, as usual, I could not restrain myself from trying some local food and good wine.
I know what you are thinking of: no, I do not just eat 
but I can’t push myself back from some yummy food! Just after my stomach had been stuffed, it was about the time to feed my mind too. Inside an atelier for lacemaking I could enjoy the art of the famous Burano lace, its birth and techniques.
Burano and its famous lace
At the beginning, the lace’s production wan not implying the use of any toil: it was actually applied the so called “punto in aria” with which every kind of decorations was created, such as coils, animals and geometrical designs. It was only about a century later that the “punto a rosette” technique was introduced, with its characteristic small flowers and big coils. And soon enough the Burano lace became famous all around the world, to the point that a lot of women from the island started to be required to move to France to produce the typical lace for French aristocracy and monarchs.
But Burano lace was exceptional: its beauty and elegance could never be compared with any other’s. A real and proper school was born: the Scuola Merletti, where an art current started to develop, producing the most famous creations which are now exhibited at Museo del Merletto di Burano, situated inside an elegant building right in the central square of the island.
There is a famous legend saying that this ancient lace craftsmanship would come from some fisher’s exploits to marry a local young girl. This charming story follows with sirens giving the fisher a gorgeous wedding veil as a present; but the women in Burano, envying the beauty of the veil, began to weave a more beautiful one. This is how the legend explains the birth of the lace’s traditional craftsmanship.
Leaving the legend aside, it remains a charming art still worth to be known. I have just given you a few tips: I hope this was enough to intrigue you. I now let you alone to its beautiful discovery!
For more info, visit http://www.isoladiburano.it/en/
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