In 1291 the Grand Council of Venice ordered all the glass makers out of the city onto the island of Murano, apparently out of a concern about the fire risk from the Kilns. That hardly seems the way to found the greatest glass making center the world has ever seen, and yet Venice went on to dominate European glass making for hundreds of years. The history of Italian glass is centered around the city, and it's still important today. Looking back, it seems the order of 1291 was a cornerstone in the overwhelming and enduring success of Venetian glass.

Trace back the history of fine glass making, Italian or otherwise, and you'll find it's a skill passed from generation to generation, moving with the Artisans. The art of glass making that was born in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC eventually reached Egypt. The Egyptians learnt to make hollow glass objects by wrapping molten glass around a core mould, then rolling it on a smooth surface to give it the desired shape.

In the 1st century BC the new method of glass making - glass blowing - was invented somewhere along the Mediterranean Coast and was quickly commercialized by the Romans. In this method some molten glass was attached to the end of a thin hollow tube. A glassmaker would then blow through this tube, thus producing various shapes out of the molten glass. Later this method was enhanced to blow the molten glass into a mould which allowed creation of a wide variety of hollow glass items.

As Rome fell and Europe slid into the dark ages, Venice eventually emerged as the glassmaking center of the Western world. Pretty much all Italian glass that we know of today came from Venice. The connections of the Venetian merchants with Syria and Byzantium along with Venice’s undisputed naval power on the Mediterranean and its covert participation in the crusades helped transport the glassmakers from the advanced Eastern regions into Venice.

While glass making had existed in the Venetian lagoon since the 8th century AD, the output had been practical items such as storage jars. The arrival of the merchants from the Eastern Mediterranean fueled a rapid expansion of the glass industry, and the production of all manner of decorative and artistic glass wares. The Venetians were shrewd, they'd seen how the migrating artisans had brought a new industry into their city, and they wanted to keep it there by introducing and legislating a monopoly on the production of Venetian glass. In 1291 the Venetian rulers forced the glass artisans out of the city, yet they offered them a new home on the nearby island of Murano. The island was not far from Venice, but it was isolated. It was not on the way to anywhere, no one had business to go there. It became a city of master glass workers, sealed off from the rest of the world.

The Venetians looked after their glass workers. The glass makers guild had the highest social status, its members were equal to nobles, could carry swords and marry into the most blue-blooded Venetian families. The Venetians ensured a monopoly on the finest raw materials, and Murano islanders were rarely called up for military duties. In return for all these favors, however, the law stated that members of the glass workers guild were not allowed to ever leave the Venetian Republic.

It seems barbaric by modern standards, but in those days ordinary folk didn't travel without good reason, and Murano's glass workers had little motivation to move. Venice's role as the most important trading post in Europe meant there was always a buoyant market for high quality goods. Their high status as first class citizens in a wealthy and powerful City was an enviable position. But perhaps most of all, Murano itself was an artisans heaven.

People born and bred on the island had glass making in their blood. All the activity on the island was centered around the glass making industry, focused on making the finest possible wares for the export market. Young apprentices were taught all the traditional skills, and they only had to wander around the neighborhood to work with the best glass makers in Europe. Most would be friends and relatives.

On Murano, the emphasis has always been on traditional techniques and progressive style. Nobody could become a master glass worker until they had learnt all the traditional methods, but when they had mastered the skills, they used them to produce items of beauty that followed or even challenged the latest trends and fashions. Murano masters did not just blindly learn the trade – they had continuously tried new techniques or improved existing ones, and the ideas that worked soon passed through to the rest of the community.

To this day mass production techniques are shunned in Murano, yet the best modern innovations are incorporated into the glass making process to make the results even better. Modern Murano masters use gas flames for their lampwork, kilns are regulated by electronic thermostats, but the manipulation of the glass itself is strictly done by hand, using techniques and tools perfected by their ancestors hundreds of years ago.

Today Murano is still pretty much as it's always been. An small tranquil island of canals and alleyways, it's protected from motor vehicles and the hustle of modern life. These days islanders may leave the city, but it is still filled by Italian glass workers, often the descendants of the ancient ones, who are eager to have a place in the unique community that revolves entirely around fine glass making. The powerful Guild has been replaced by a Consorzio, a legally recognized trade institution that both promotes Murano glass and protects the traditions of the industry, limiting its membership to artisans trained in the traditional Murano ways.

The Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth sound 390 years ago to eventually create what we now know as the U.S.A. The Roman empire lasted 500 years. The glass making community of Murano was founded 719 years ago; you can't help wondering whether the rulers of venice realized that they were creating such a venerable and unique institution.