Museo del Merletto, Isola di Burano

Burano, the fishermen's island of the Venetian Lagoon of Levante, famous for the lively polychromy of its houses and for the widespread smell of butter biscuits, preserves and hands down, thanks to the hands of its women, an art that smacks of detail patience, history and legends: lace making.

It is not included in the annals of history the how and the why the processing of lace is so widespread in this tiny lagoon island, but its origins are traced back to a romantic and legendary narration. Niccolò was a young island fisherman known for his beauty and physical prowess, but also for his kind and courteous soul; the perfect man to marry, who all the girls dreamed of, but he falls in love and chooses Maria as his wife. A few days before the wedding, Niccolò goes out alone, and off the Lagoon he is attracted by the sweet song of a fascinating group of mermaids. Beautiful women with soft bodies and sinuous movements that try to enchant him with the sound of their voice that becomes music. The young fisherman is attracted but his heart and his eyes belong only to his young bride. A mermaid fascinated by her loyalty, before leaving the abyss of the Adriatic, with a stroke of the tail created a movement of water from whose foam came out a wedding veil decorated with a delicate and sophisticated lace.

The young man told the episode to his beloved and he gave her the veil, which on the wedding day he found the admiration and envy of the other women of the island of Burano. From that moment they all tried to imitate and improve that precious lace for their wedding dresses, using only needle and thread.

Dreamy legends aside, the art of burano lace begins to spread around the fifteen hundred thanks to the noblewomen of the Serenissima who designed the "dot in the air", a workmanship performed with only needle and thread, without any underlying support. But it was the Dogaressa Morosini Morosini who allowed the great diffusion of this work, founding a laboratory in which almost 150 lace makers worked: we are in the XIV century and the precious lace not only served to enrich clothes and furnishings of the nobles of the Serenissima, but they also began to interest the great European courts, up to the King of France Louis XIV  who at a crucial moment in his life, his coronation, chose to wear a lace collar made in Burano in two years of patient and painstaking work.

The fall of the Republic of Venice once again relegated lace processing to a strictly family environment, which was simply handed down from mother to daughter. It was then brought back into fashion again thanks to a noblewoman, the Countess Adriana Marcello, who with the aim of reviving the precarious economic conditions of the island, founded the Burano Lace School: the secrets of ancient art were revealed by the lace-maker more famous of the time, the old Cencia Scarpariola, to whom today a street of the island is dedicated, which allowed the rebirth and a new affirmation of this precious work, today famous in the world. The School was run by nuns and the women of the island entered there as children, at the age of about 12: the noble acquaintances of Countess Marcello, including Queen Margherita, the Countess of Birsmark and the Queen of Holland , allowed the school to grow quickly, to the point that lace-making became Burano's main working activity. During the summer heat, the precious lace makers used to move out of the way, to perform their work: still today it is possible to meet groups of women chatting outside their homes while patiently weaving their laces. Fascinating and timeless.

The School was closed after World War II, and the art of lace, once again became a "home activity".

But the ancient art of lace making has never disappeared, and so today, the premises of that school that made it famous houses the Burano Lace Museum. Opened in 1981 by the will of Venetian Public Institutions and the Adriana Marcello Foundation, its aim is to make the culture of this work known and enhance it in a contemporary that makes lace still very current.

A dynamic and lively exhibition that will make you immerse in the history of the birth, genesis and diffusion of precious lace. Hundreds of exhibits are exhibited, many of which are part of the collection of the school that previously occupied the building, some of which are rare and precious from the Renaissance and the 19th century. Without a doubt, the possibility of seeing a lace made alive thanks to the presence of Burano lace-makers illustrating some manufacturing techniques and the most used "points" for the realization of elegant lace are very suggestive.

But they will not reveal their secrets to you.

The art of lace making is still handed down from mother to daughter, as a precious gift, a gift for the culture of a woman and her family's heritage: so much patience and detail to weave these delicate lace, and many hours of work that lead to the birth of a masterpiece. Think that making a lace for a bed kit usually requires 3 years of dedication.

Do not be surprised, therefore, if the cost of these works is often high: art must be honored, and it is rightly so!