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This is the blog of Steve Burkett of Italy, Our Italy

Transformation x 2

Just a couple of transformations today, as I’ve bene busy shoveling snow! Someone has to do it…right?

Trasformazione Uno

For this first transformation we go from a really blah snapshot of a door on a slightly inclined street, to something much more appealing. So, let’s get started.

Here’s that blah snapshot. I wasn’t wrong about the blahness, was I? I’m glad you agree.

As usual, I want to get rid of modern distractions, like the plumbing and its tarnishment, the address plaque, and that vestige of graffiti to the right of the door.

Now that it’s cleaned up a bit, it’s time to work on the color. I’ll work on the plaster by giving it a bit of old-world patina.

And as you know, I just have to do something with that humdrum door. So, here is the final image. Better, huh?

Trasformazione Due

Ouch! Why did I even bother to capture this image?! I guess that I thought I could do something with it back home, so I might as well give it a try.

Such a clutter of ‘stuff’ to resolve, like the address plaques, mail slots, doorbell ringers, chotskies, etc. So, here goes.

Here I am back after a bit of clutter removal. I’ll give the door a bit of color while I’m at it…I’m not happy with that dark green. Now that reflection behind the iron work has to go.

Reflection done and gone.

I’m ready to give the plaster some of that patina that I like so much.

And, for the final product, I’m going to brighten up that door so that the photo will look better on our wall.

There you have it. Two quick transformations in one sitting. Now I’m going out to shovel a bit more snow. I’ll be back next week with more on our favorite place…Italy, Our Italy.

Ciao for now,

Steve

Eat This: Italian Meats - Part 2

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When last we met, we were busy tasting Italy’s cured meats, like prosciutto. Today, we move on to the sausage and fat/lard categories.

“There just has to be something wrong when we classify fat and lard as a meat”

And right up front, I need to tell you the bad news about bringing back Italian meat products from your trip abroad. Those cured hams, like prosciutto, and the soon to be described salami, cannot be brought into the U.S. Lest you think I jest, here is a direct quote from the USDA’s website: “Cured hams (prosciutto) and salami from areas within …Italy…may not be brought into the United States by travelers. These items may only enter in commercial shipments because there are special restrictions that require additional certification and documentation.”

So, now that we got that unsavory government business out of the way, let’s talk sausage.

SAUSAGE

The meats in this category are ground, mixed with spices, and encased, as opposed to being whole, cured hunks of meat as discussed last week.

SALAMI

Pork (sometimes beef)

I’ll start with salami, as there is a bit of confusion…at least there was in my mind…and there are still confusion echoes rattling around in there. That confusion stems from the fact that most of the sausages mentioned below are technically a form of salami. It seems to be both a general and specific term.

It's a sausage made mostly with ground pork and cubes of fat, seasoned with garlic, salt, and spices. You will find it to be fairly large, at 3” to 4” in diameter. It’s stuffed into the pig's large intestine…I know, right? Yuck…but then, it tastes good, and always has. There is a smaller version called salamino, which is only 1-inch across.

There are several types of salami, the differences being the region of Italy where they are made. For instance, Genoa Salami is a hard, dry cured meat that is typically made of pork, salt, garlic, pepper, fennel seeds, and wine. Then there’s Finocchiona Salami, which is a spicy Tuscan specialty that is dry cured and made with fennel seeds and black pepper.

I guess we can add pepperoni to the list, though it is an American variety of salami, made from a cured mixture of pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili peppers. Pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red in color. I’m not sure it falls into the Italian meat category.

And oh, you know that white powder covering the casings of salami. It’s a white mold that helps in salami’s curing.

SALSICCIA

Pork

Salsiccia are link sausages made with ground pork, cubed pork fat, spices, and herbs.

Fresh salsiccia can be cooked in its casing (like American breakfast link sausages). More often though, you will remove the salsiccia from the casing before cooking (like the tubes of sausage we get at the supermarket…can you say Jimmy Dean?) and use it as just one more ingredient in a recipe.

Then there is an aged variety, i.e. cured sausage. This creates a completely different taste profile. After aging for a couple of months, they start to resemble salami.

SOPPRESSATA

Pork

The Italian soppressata is a traditional dry salami/sausage that varies significantly within Italy. They are mainly prepared with roughly cut pork meat and fat.

The dry Soppressata is a dry-cured Italian deli meat made from coarsely ground pork sausage.

There are two distinct forms of soppressata. First, there’s Soppressata di Basilicata which is made using only coarsely ground fillet and thigh meat.

Then there’s Soppressata Toscana, which is made with ham, pork shoulder, and tongue with a ton of added spices ranging from nutmeg and cinnamon to orange peel and lemon zest. The Toscana version might not sit well on our American palettes…looks kinda like headcheese, doesn’t it?

VENTRICINA

Pork

The folks in the Abruzzo and Molise regions put together a cured sausage known as Ventricina.

Like the soppressata, there are significantly different varieties.

Ventricina del Vastese is a hard, cured sausage made with coarsely chopped lean pork, garlic, sweet and spicy pepper, black pepper, and wild fennel seeds.
Then we have Ventricina Teramana. It is a soft, spreadable variety made with fattier parts of pork, lard, garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds, peperoncini, orange zest, and salt.
Let’s not forget what they do in Molise, If you see the shape of Italy as a boot (kicking the soccer ball of Sicily), Molise would be where your ankle would be situated. Their Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia is a round sausage stuffed in a pigs stomach, and is made with pork from local pigs that feed exclusively on cereals (probably not raisin bran and Cheerios) and dried legumes.

NDUJA

Pork

Uhmmm, don’t ask me how to pronounce it. But whatever, the Nduja sausage is considered to be an Italian delicacy, It is produced in Calabria (the toe of the afore mentioned boot).

Nduja has the texture of pâté, and you would consume it much as you would a pâté…like smeared on toasted bread. Add some ricotta and you’ve got a tasty treat.

MORTADELLA BOLOGNA

Pork

I just love to say the word ‘mortadella’…it sounds so Italian, doesn’t it. And, it’s so much more sophisticated sounding than what we call it…baloney.

The ancient Etruscans found that a diet of acorns and tubers created a unique pork taste, and they incorporated that pork into Mortadella, and that’s how it is still done today. But today, pistachios are added to the pork and spices.

The name mortadella stems from the word ‘mortaio’. And a mortaio is a large mortar where the ground pork is mashed into a paste. If you don’t like that etymological concoction, some sources say that the name comes from an old Roman word for myrtle, which was used for seasoning instead of pepper. I guess it’s really not that important, so let’s move on.

After the squishy paste is squeezed into its casing, Mortadella is a cooked for several hours at a low temperature with low humidity.

Mortadella Bolgna is no baloney…which is what most of us called Mortadella Balogna when we were young and ill informed. Balogna or baloney - it’s the same thing. I considered it an extra-special treat when mom would fry my round of baloney…sorry, I mean bologna…before putting it on my sandwich.

FAT/LARD

There just has to be something wrong when we classify fat and lard as a meat. But then again, as they say, “When in Italy…”.

Lardo di Colonnata

Not only is this meat made of fat, or lard, the prefix to the word ‘colonnata’ doesn’t thrill me, either. But, we’ll give it its due.

There is a Tuscan province known as Massa Carrara, where Michelangelo got his marble. In that province is the very small village Colonnata, with just a few hundred souls who like fat. They start with lard, they salt it, and then they season it with pepper, rosemary, garlic and coriander. Then they smash it all up.

‘Do they age their fat?’, you ask. Yes they do…for about six months. They can’t hang up the gooey mixture like a pork leg, so they stuff it in marble tubs called canaloni (not to be confused with cannelloni)…after all, they are located between a couple of Carrara marble quarries.

What do they do with it after it is aged in these marble tubs? I have no idea. I guess they eat it…or maybe give it away as Christmas gifts to distant friends instead of fruitcake. I jest of course…but I really don’t know what they do with it…spread it on toast? Let’s go with that.

Hold the presses, I have late breaking news about Lardo di Colonnata. Some typical Italian taverns in the Massa Carrara area offer menus based entirely on Lardo di Colonnata, from cold starters to pasta, main courses and, amazingly, even ice cream! Based on this information, I will stop joking around about the lard-eating proclivities of those in Massa Carrara, and I offer my apologies for having done so.

Well, we’ve come to the end of our meat-fest, and none too soon, as it is time for lunch. Ellen has put together a charcuterie platter with cheeses and a vast selection of thinly sliced Italian meats…except for the colonata thingie, which she’s put into a pastry piping bag. It’s time for me to go now…after this tasty lunch, I have to go get my cholesterol checked.

Ciao for now,

Steve

PS: You know, the colonnata wasn’t half bad. As you can see here, Ellen found some with quite a bit of meat!

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Eat This: Italian Meats - Part 1

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Today we delve into the world of Italian meats. Here are a few photos taken over the years as we’ve visited Italian meat markets.

“I’ll start today with just the cured meats…done the Italian way. Next week, we’ll cover the sausage/salami and lard meat categories”

Most of what I’ll cover will be cured meats classified as ‘cold cuts’, or ‘salumi’ (not to be confused with ‘salami’ or ‘salame’) in Italian. And most are created from pork, though a few may have beef, venison, wild boar, horse or donkey. I wouldn’t worry about getting anything made from the latter two, though it can be found in an occasional meat market (macellaio) of Italy.

In these photo, you can see that these non-traditional products (at least in the U.S.) are clearly marked as ‘cavallo’ or ‘asino’, respectively. Alas, sorry to disappoint, but we’ll just stick to meat products made from pork and beef.

When I say ‘products’, that’s what they are. The subject of today’s article is not a beef steak or a pork loin, but natural cuts of meat that have been transformed into a completely different product, like cold cuts and sausages.

Like me, you may have grown up eating sandwiches made with baloney (American slang for Bologna) or salami. Those were probably a mass produced Americanized version of the real thing…though there is typically no comparison to the ‘real thing’ of Italy.

I will be discussing these fine Italian meat products in three categories: cured, sausage/salami, and lard…yes, lard prepared in a special Italian way is considered to be a delicacy to be enjoyed like other cold cuts.

Because the cured meats are the most popular…in particular prosciutto, I’ll start today with just the cured meats…done the Italian way. Next week, we’ll cover the sausage/salami and lard meat categories. And, as prosciutto is the king of cured meats of Italy, I’ll spend a lot of time describing how it is produced…and I’m not pulling your leg!

CURED MEATS

Italy is well known for its cured meats, known as salumi. Methods and curing ingredients vary by region and local customs, based on their curing traditions, with some traditions going back centuries. So, salumi in one place can be distinctly different than salumi found in another place, where herbs and other ingredients differ.

Some of the cured meats are cooked during their processing, but most are air-dried after getting some distinctive treatment during their preparation. I’ll start the salumi discussion with one of the most popular, and that is prosciutto.

PROSCIUTTO

[proh-SHOO-toh]

Pork

A custom cutting stand for thinly slicing prosciutto

Prosciutto is made from the hind leg of a pig. There are actually two famous prosciutti in Italy, that from Parma and that from San Daniele, though Prosciutto di Carpegna and Tuscan Prosciutto Crudo can also be found. Here’s the lowdown on this tasty haunch of pork.

Rigid Standards

Whether it is Parma or San Daniele, prosciutto can only be produced from Italian-born and bred pigs raised according to the highest standards, which are monitored, inspected, and traced. Acceptable pigs are the Large White, Landrace, and Duroc breeds. Whether for Parma or San Daniele prosciutto, the pigs are all raised within the same 10 northern and central Italian regions.

Two Styles

We know prosciutto as a dry-cured ham that is usually thinly sliced and served uncooked…this style is called prosciutto ‘crudo’ (raw) in Italian and is distinguished from cooked ham, or prosciutto ‘cotto’ (cooked). And though it is uncooked, it really isn’t as raw as you might think…that’s where the curing comes into play. A well-cured prosciutto has a deep red meat and pure white fat.

The Curing Process

For the curing of prosciutto, one would want a dry climate…and that’s what you have in the Parma and San Daniele regions of Italy. For curing, you also need salt…lots of salt. A salt master, or Maestro Salatore in Italian, is in charge of determining just how much salt is appropriate for the legs that our well-cared-for pigs have given up for your dining enjoyment.

Here are salt-rubbed legs prior to aging.

Here are legs seen in two stages: to the left, they are ready to have their open ends rubbed with a fat-salt protective coating; and to the right, that coating has been applied.

You are probably wondering how long the curing process lasts…I mean, we don’t want the meat to spoil and go bad, right? Well, there’re two phases to curing: the resting phase, or riposo; and, the drying, or sugna, phase. The resting phase finds the ham literally hanging around for about 3 months.

After that, the drying phase begins when the legs are smeared with a rice flour, salt, and pork fat mixture. This salty paste is what begins the curing process. And, that pork fat seals the cut end of the leg to prevent spoiling. Using a very thin horse bone, the caretakers occasionally insert it into the ham, withdraw it, and then smell it. If it isn’t malodorous, all is well. This part of the curing process lasts at least a year, and sometimes three years, when its unique full-bodied flavor is at its best. So, three years without being spoiled…that’s the benefit of salt curing.

Here are a couple of expert sniffers sniffing their horse bone picks.

The Taste of Prosciutto

How does it taste? Some say sweet…some say salty…and some say sweet and salty. You’ll have to try it to make your own decision. It’s always served thinly sliced and satisfyingly salty. We’ve eaten it wrapped around cantaloupe melon, asparagus, dates, cheese…all good uses. You can also savor it by itself, or on a charcuterie plate.

From the San Dan website: “The more mature the prosciutto, the stronger the aroma, offering hints of crusty bread and notes of dried fruit and barley malt. The flavor is also unmistakable: subtle yet deliciously tasty mixed with the tang of cured meat to create a perfectly balanced flavor that transforms every mouthful into a multisensory experience.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Why so thinly sliced? It’s expensive, that’s why…you want it to go a long way. We ran across a shave-it-off-the-leg yourself situation at the Lodge at Vail years ago…unheard of since! Prosciutto heaven.

Have you cooked with diced speck? It comes from the hind leg like prosciutto, but that’s the only similarity. Speck is smoked during the final step of the curing process, and the smoky flavor tastes similar to bacon. Speck can be used as you would pancetta, which I will cover a bit later.

Most definitely, don’t confuse prosciutto with American-style smoke-cured ham…there’s no comparison. If you confuse the word prosciutto with prosecco, please take a few moments to get centered, go have a glass of prosecco, and then come back to continue reading about Italian meats.

The Curing Environs

Parma prosciutto is produced near the town of Parma, along the Po River valley. San Daniele Is produced in the hilly area around the town of San Daniele in the province of Udine, which is in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. If you go as far as you can to north-eastern Italy -- way up there on the right -- you are in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

The Pig’s Diet

As mentioned previously, the pigs are raised within the same 10 regional areas. However, the Prosciutto di Parma pigs seem to have a bit better pre-prosciutto existence. You’ve heard of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (simplified in the U.S. as ‘parmesan cheese’), right? Well, there’s a link to this cheese and the prosciutto from Parma. Besides the usual grain and cereal diet (it’s hard to think of a pig having a ‘diet’ isn’t it?), these pigs often have parmesan in their diet. They aren’t actually eating a big chunk of cheese, but the whey from the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese producing process. As they say, “You are what you eat”, and that applies to these large pigs. The whey in their diet adds to the complex taste of their future-self as prosciutto.

The Leg’s Shape

The Parma leg is left in its natural shape…a bit stubby. But, the San Daniele legs are pressed to give them their characteristic "Stradivarian" shape, i.e. they have the shape of an oversized violin, so it’s longer and skinnier than Parma. Who presses the leg? Why women it seems, as men lack the ‘necessary touch’.

Here is a San Daniele prosciutto ham…it has a traditional flattened shape.

And the stubbier Parma prosciutto. Note the Parma Crown that has been branded onto the prosciutto.

Here is a glimpse of the branding process…less painful than a cattle brand (with a live cow).

Let’s shave off a piece to enjoy, shall we?

That’s it for prosciutto. Try it wrapped around ripe cantaloupe…prosciutto e melone…delish.

GUANCIALE

Pork

It’s hard to actually call this a meat…it’s a good bit of fat with some occasional color.

It is a similar fat product to pancetta and bacon, but it has a higher fat-to-meat ratio (that means a lot more fat than meat). It’s said to have a richer, sweet-savory pork flavor, though I’ve never tasted it…if you have, let me know how it was.

It is pressed into a pillow shape…thus the name guanciale, which means ‘pillow’ in Italian.

This cut of meat comes from the pork's cheek and is rubbed with salt, sugar, and spices and cured until it loses about 30% of its original weight. Guanciale has an intensely strong flavor and can be used as a substitute for Pancetta or bacon.

BRESAOLA DELLA VALTELLINA

Beef

The origins of this air-dried, salted, lean and tender beef can be traced waaaay back to the Lombardian Valtellina valley and Alps.

This meat is cured for two to three months after being rubbed down in spices. When it is completely dried out, it is hard and dark-red to purple, with a sweet and musky smell. Some say it’s like a lean prosciutto, though made with beef.

Ready to taste it? Do it the way the locals do and slice it very thin, drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil, lemon, and parmesan cheese shavings. Tasty sounding, isn’t it?

PANCETTA

Pork

Pancetta is a salumi made from salt-cured pork belly, sometimes spiced with sugar, fennel, pepper, or nutmeg.

One could call it an Italian bacon, as it is made from the same cut as bacon, However, unlike bacon, pancetta is not smoked, but merely cured and left to dry, usually for several months.

You will probably find it sold in thin slices or cut into small cubes. But, in its uncut state, It comes in two forms – rolled in the northern Italy style, and in its flat form of the central and southern Italy style.

Rather than being eaten by itself, it is mostly used to enhance the flavor of vegetables, meats, soups, and pastas. So it's almost always used as an ingredient in other dishes, like pasta carbonara or pasta arrabbiata.

CAPOCOLLO

Pork

Capocollo is made from pork…but not just any part of the pig. Specifically, it’s made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the fourth or fifth rib of the pork shoulder or neck; this gives it a highly desirable meat-to-fat ratio.

So, it’s a whole-muscle salume.

Capocollo is dry cured, and it’s typically sliced thin, which is how you find it when it is pre-packaged at your local supermarket.

It is also known as coppa, capicola, or the slang ‘gabagool’.

It might be seasoned with red wine and it can have a spiciness because it is rubbed down with paprika during the curing process, which lasts about 75 days.

So, there you have the cured meats of Italy. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, where we will take up sausage/salami…and of course, that promised fat/lard…makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?

Ciao for now,

Steve

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A Transformation With Substantial Alteration

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Today we need to get out our bag of stonemason’s tools to perform some major alterations along a Venetian canal. We’ll need to cut a building in half and then reassemble it to our liking…well, at least my liking…and I hope you like it, too,.

As usual, we will start with a really, really blah snapshot and convert it for more of a fine-art look. The photo was snapped so quickly that I neglected to get the canal in the shot. But no worries, I’ve also got a firehose in my set of tools that should help us to take care of that problem. So, here goes…

The Original Snapshot

So, here it is.

A piece of this building has fallen ott!

As is often the case, the photo is not level…it droops to the right. I’ll have to jack up the right side of this brick building to alleviate that problem.

And I don’t know whether you noticed it, but there is actually a big chunk of the building that’s fallen off. Look along the right side, or in the detail photo.

I didn’t do that folks…”it was that way when I found it”…how many times have we used that line?! I’m going to use the ‘if you ignore it, it’ll go away’ mantra to resolve this major structural issue.

And there’s a big crack running from the top of the window on the right going toward the top-right corner of the photo. I’m not touching it…I’ll leave it as I found it.

Finally, that window on the right side of the photo has a really distracting reflection that needs to be removed.

The First Alteration

Building jacked up and leveled? Check.
Chunk of missing building on the right ignored? Check.
Didn’t mess with that big crack? Check.
Reflection in right-hand window removed? Check.

No missing chunk and building leveled out

A Major Rework

OK, I’m going waaaay out on a limb here, and I hope you like where I’m going next. I can only assume that like me, you don’t like that big empty space in the middle of the photo. Am I right? (That’s not a rhetorical question, by the way, so you can answer right out loud wherever you happen to be as you are reading this…maybe even shout it out.)

So, I pulled out my building-cut-in-half tool. Getting rid of the excess bricks wasn’t particularly a problem, as they fell right there into the canal. And, I like the way we were able to fit the bricks from one wide with the other…interlocking them as we went. I also decided that the second-from-the-right window needed its own reflection removed.

But, I’ll be darned…because I messed with the cut-and-rejoin stuff, that crack has opened up to a dangerous extent. Why I let you talk me into messing with this building, I’ll never know. Help me out here…OK?

Middle removed, but huge crack opened up

This’s better. I know, right? Thanks for giving me a hand. And I didn’t mean to come down on you…in my panic I felt I needed to blame someone else…and you were handy. I won’t do it again! Let’s move on.

Took Some Out…Put Some Back In

Things are now looking a little too ‘packed in’ to me. The windows are too close to the edge of the photo. So, I’ll recover some of those bricks that fell into the canal, grab some mortar, and I’ll get to work adding some brick work to each side of the photo.

Is The Tide Out, Or What?

Well, this is a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea, so maybe the tide is out, indeed. Glad I packed that firehose into my kit. So, let’s use it to fill up the latent canal.

The Final Photo

All that’s left is to give the brick work that Venetian glow and to ‘enrich’ the water a bit. And there you have it! Major rework of a Venetian building with just a small hiccup that you were able to help me repair. I kind’a wish that the original architect had designed it this way…right?

Whilst in Venice, touring the numerous beautiful churches with their fabulous artworks, many artworks are often draped over and scaffoldized as they are restored. Today, we were able to do some renovation and restoration without distracting the traveler from their pursuit of visionary pleasures.

Ciao for now,

Steve

p.s. Thanks again for helping me to repair that crack…it was my problem, and I’m grateful for your help.

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Your Murano Glass Experience

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“As I explain below, booking a tour has its benefits.”

Today, we visit a typical Murano-island glass ‘fornace’, or glass furnace…in other words, a glass making workshop. Though accompanying photos are from a recent visit to Fornace Estevan Rossetto, the process of visiting any fornace is pretty much the same. So, I’ll just focus on the generic adventure of visiting a Murano glass factory, or fornace. We’ve been to four glass factories/foundries/furnaces/fornaces over the years, and each experience has been mostly the same…and fun…and productive (i.e. we bought something that we treasure).

The Island of Murano

Glass blowing businesses in Venice are located on the island of Murano, not the main conglomerate of islands and canals known as Venice proper. The aerial photo shows the proximity of Murano to Venice. It is about a mile north of Venice, and it is about a mile in diameter.

In between Venice and Murano is the island of San Michele, which is Venice’s cemetery island.

Like Venice proper, Murano is a whole bunch of small islands linked by a lesser number of bridges. So, like the 5,000 inhabitants of Murano, you need to know your way around the labyrinth of bridges and calles to get where you want to be.

Want to venture to Murano? The absolute best way to experience the glass-blowing arts of Murano is to take a tour of one of the many facilities there. And, as I explain below, booking a tour has its benefits.

A Forced Move to the Island of Murano

Glass makers in the populous Venice proper were forced by the Venetian Republic to move to Murano because of the fear of fire. In contrast to today’s Venice, most of Venice’s buildings were wooden in the 13th century. So in 1291, off to the less-populated island of Murano they went.

The move wasn’t such a bad thing for these mobile glass makers. Their prominence soared as they became more important to Venice’s European status. Statutory privileges abounded, as they were immune from prosecution, were able to marry off their daughters to affluent Venetian families…and, they looked really nifty because they were allowed to wear swords when others were denied this privilege.

Though they looked really cool wearing a sword and having certain immunities, there was a trade off. They were physically bound to the Venetian lagoon. They were not allowed to leave for fear that their uniquely perfect glass making techniques would be shared with others. Thus, the monopoly on high quality glass making was protected for centuries…until some were lured away to conduct their trade and share their knowledge…shame on them!

Getting to Your Murano Island Glass-Making Experience

There is only one way to get between islands in the Venetian lagoon…and that’s by boat. But alas, there are many types of boats in the lagoon, as you can see here in my whimsical composite titled, ‘Busy Day on the Grand Canal’.

The most prominent for our own liquid movement opportunities are the vaporetto, gondola, and water taxi. A vaporetto is basically a water bus. It is the most prominent means of travel within Venice, and between the many other islands in the Venetian lagoon. Here are a couple of photos of vaporetti (vaporetti is plural of a vaporetto).

[As usual, you can click on an image to get a larger view]

A vaporetto is ok…and you will probably use one to get around on the Grand Canal and to get to the other islands of Venice. However, it isn’t necessary to take a vaporetto to Murano…but you might need one to get back…keep reading to see what I mean.

How about a gondola? Well, its a long ways out there to Murano (again, about a mile) and the water can get pretty choppy, and I doubt if you could talk a gondolier into making the journey…and do you want them to wait for you? I have seen gondola in choppy waters like these folks are experiencing, but not often.

The water taxi is the ultimate way to get to your glass making experience on Murano. The water taxi are sleek and comfortable. Which of these two boats is a water taxi that you would want to ride to Murano? I’ll let you figure that out!

The taxi drivers (taxiliers?) take great pride in their wooden boats and they keep them pristinely waxed, like this one reflecting a palazzo on the Grand Canal.

Here are friends Debbie and Scott enjoying the beginning of their ride to Murano.

So, how do you wrangle a water taxi ride to and from Murano?

Arranging Your Glass-Making Tour

You could take a ride on your own to Murano without taking a ‘tour’, but I’m not sure how it would go for you. Which of the glass showrooms has a glass master working today? When do you need to arrive to get the full experience? Etc?

Let’s do it this way. You will find Murano glass-making tour hawkers in various parts of Venice…primarily the places where people are most gathered. Maybe the tour is reputable, but then maybe it isn’t. Here’s the best way to arrange for you tour. Use your hotel.

The front desk at your hotel is a great place to start…or the concierge, if there is one. The hotel employees have access to glass-making facilities that they trust…after all, they want your tour to increase your trust of their hotel, not detract from it. So, just ask at the hotel the day before you want to visit Murano. Give them a general time, like morning or afternoon. And be sure to ask whether you will be provided with water taxi transportation, as that’s the whole point of going through your hotel. They will make the appropriate arrangements for you…including the exact time and place you will need to be waiting for your transportation.

Your Glass-Making Adventure

If you’ve followed the advise above, you will be whisked in comfort (no matter the weather) to a glass-making fornace of your hotel’s choice. In our experience, they are pretty much the same.

For our tour of Fornace Estevan Rossetto, you can see in the photo where we arrived…at the dock. The fornace/furnace/glass-blowing-area is at the entrance where the dock terminates into the building. You can see that the whole facility is linear…and we have experienced this at most all of the facilities. You will go from the creation area to the showroom, where you can purchase your glass keepsake.

We were greeted by this lovely young lady…perhaps named Pia…if not, my apologies.

Our first stop is the room containing the fornace. If it is a bit chilly outside, you will be comfortable within the workshop.

We’ve arrived at the beginning of the Master’s production of a vase. Between the 2nd and 3rd photo, he actually blew into the iron pipe to form a round shape, and he subsequently used one of his tools to deftly create the neck of the vase, as seen in the 3rd photo. Then, as if by magic, he removed the vase, flipped it end-for-end, and re-applied it to the pipe. In the 4th photo, you can see that he is now working on the fluted top of the vase. And in the 5th photo, he is crimping the top of the vase as a design element.

In this next series, the Master is working on a mystery piece. He first goes to the furnace where a glob of glass is daubed onto the blow pipe, as seen in the 2nd photo. In photos 3 and 4, he begins to create a still unrecognizable shape. You can see the almost completed horse in the 5th photo. After bending legs this way and that (yes, it is still malleable), and firmly setting the horse down upon a flat surface to be sure that the two hind legs and the tail make a stable setting (no pun intended on the word ‘stable’), we see the finished product, along with its cousin completed just a bit later. In all, it took the Master less than 5 minutes to complete one horse.

I’ve used the term ‘Master’ a few times, and the term is not used lightly. It takes years to become a Master glass craftsman, after creating hundreds of lower-quality touristy pieces as an Apprentice.

Now, to the Showroom

After watching a Master create something right before your eyes, you will be directed to the showroom. Here you can see hundreds of pieces created at the particular fornace. Here are some photos from the Fornace Estevan Rossetto website.

The Masters of Murano are most famous for their chandeliers. And, they are surely most excellent works of art…and they cast nice light within your room, for sure. Here are a few photos of the Fornace Estevan Rossetto Murano-glass chandeliers.

And here are a couple that we had in our bedrooms during our last visit to Italy.

Beautiful! I know, right?

Getting Back to Venice-Proper

Of course, as you know, you can always take a vaporetto back. But, there is a better way. However, this better way can be a bit expensive.

What’s the trick? Buy something in the showroom. I’m not sure exactly how much you have to buy, but we’ve managed a water-taxi ride back each time…well, on the last trip we wanted to eat lunch on Murano after our showroom purchase, so Fornace Estevan Rossetto provided their boat to take us a ways for lunch at Trattoria Busa alla Torre. After lunch, we amble-shopped toward the closest vaporetto stop to return to Venice.

So, what does it take to get a water taxi ride back? Here are some things we have purchased over the years that earned us that ride.

The item in the first photo is 15” across and 12” high. Our salesfriend, Alivesi, suggested that we could use it as a margarita glass! Alivesi had this bowl etched on the bottom with ‘BURKETT Murano 18-9-1997’…he said that this would make it an heirloom! (BTW in Italy when writing out a date in digital format, the day comes before the month) The white-glass chalice or bowl in the 4th photo is one of the most exquisite pieces that we’ve ever seen. The white-on-clear rods had to be built up in two different patterns before all was expertly fused together into this work of art. I’m going to the dining room to gaze at this particular piece……OK, I’m back.

Speaking of Alivesi, here is a humourus anecdote from our trip in 1997.

During the 1997 trip to Murano, our friends Mike and Judy Ponsford were with us. We had a morning tour of one of the fornace, starting about 10am. After visiting the workshop, we entered the showroom. When Alivesi recognized that we were going to be purchasers rather than just lookers, he brought out his most effective negotiation tool…a bottle of nice red wine. Who cared that it was now about 10:45am? Not us! Mike and Judy had picked out about a dozen items for consideration. Mike would put a few items in a cluster and ask, “How much?”. He repeated this a half-dozen times with different clusters. He finally reached around the whole grouping of items and quoted a price with which he would be comfortable. Alivesi was taken aback a bit and suggested that, “Signore Ponsford, your arms are much too long!”. To complete the story, after payment and providing shipping information (don’t try to pack your purchase in your luggage), we went out onto the dock to await our water taxi ride back into Venice. Alivesi came out onto the dock to let us know that the boat would be here in about 10 minutes, and then he asked, “Would you like red or white while you wait?”…we opted for another round of red! This was a truly fun adventure to the island of Murano.

I hope you enjoyed our tour to a fine-glass producing fornace. If it isn’t absolutely clear to you how to arrange for and get out to your tour, I would be happy to make the arrangements when we are there together…we enjoy every visit to Murano!

Ciao for now,

Steve

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