Burano - The Enchanting Laces

One of the most famous legends about Burano narrates that an ancient betrothed fisherman, while he was fishing outside the lagoon, in the east sea, hold up to a siren who tried to entice him by her canto.

So he received a gift from sirens' queen, enchanted by his faithfulness: the siren thumped the side of the boat by her tall, creating a foam from which a wedding veil developed.

Came back home opportune in the day of marriage, he gave the gift to his fiancée. She was admired and envied from all the young ladies of the island, whereupon they begin to imitate the lace of the wedding veil employing needle-and-thread more and more thin, hoping to create a even more beautiful lace for their wedding dresses.

The Burano Lace Museum reopened to the public after a radical work of restoration, renovation and redevelopment of the building.

One of the highest expressions of the local artistic handicraft, that art of lace so inextricably linked to the custom and cultural history of the lagoon, and in particular of the Burano Island, is thus finally being enhanced by a complete redesign of the seat and the evocative setting by Daniela Ferretti, who brings inside the Museum the polychromy peculiar to the most famous island of the Venetian Lagoon, along with Murano and Torcello.

Through the use of innovative showcases, specially designed and built for the occasion, a complete overview is offered to the public of the historical and artistic events of lace in Venice and its lagoon from the origin to the present day.

The exhibition, organized for the inauguration, curated by Doretta Davanzo Poli, features over one hundred and fifty pieces of lace selected among the most significant included in the collections of the Venetian Civic Museums, as well as paintings dating from the 15th to 20th centuries, engravings, drawings, documents, magazines , textiles and costumes.