Italy - Venice Version 2025-04-14

Today started with an early train ride to Venice where we cruised the streets from the train station over to Rialto Bridge. Of course, we stopped to have breakfast along the way ;)

Franciacorta and cicchetti

JR and I had seen Rialto in 2016 (our first trip) but it was being restored so most was draped. This time it was available with all it's splendor but boy was it crowded!

Venice is this lovely city of intimate, small streets that seem to have no rhyme or reason, but are very Italian in nature and unique to Venice. What they had this time, that they didn't in 2016, were discreet signs directing you to Rialto or Piazza San Marcos, which accomplishes several things. You feel less lost and more able to enjoy your surroundings and, as a city planning move, has you move down streets lined with even more shops and drives traffic to otherwise avoided streets thus helping the tourist trade become even more impactful.

After Rialto and Piazza San Marcos, we headed to the water taxi that would take us to Murano. We enjoyed the 40 min or so 'tour' around Venice, past the Isola di San Michelle and on to Murano.

 After locating our afternoon appointment (more on that later), we roamed the streets. Murano has the same iconic streets as Venice, but they are brighter as the architecture doesn't tower over the streets as much. Lunch was had off one of the main canals and we strolled our way through shops along the canal to our appointment.

Lino Tagliapietra is the remaining Master of Venetian Glass; he turns 91 this year. He and his good friend Dale Chihuly (in his 80's) still speak regularly. Lino's son Silvano, was our host - we had met him in 2016 and he was fantastic then and remains so. He is now joined by his daughter Greta in the family business of legacy. They are wonderful curators and holders of the stories. They don't blow glass as they don't want to - and also don't want any work to be compared, because how could it not, but in crafting story, art, memories and heart, they are fabulous storytellers of Lino's body of work and you get a real sense of the man as well as the history of his work. In the not so distant future, we won't have Lino to comment on how great the showroom looks or how he loves a piece that he doesn't quite remember creating or giving us the 'last piece'. I am confident that Silvano and his family will be able to keep the memory of the man and the work alive. There is a new movie that should be available for wide release called "Sono Lino" and you can't go wrong watching. If you can find a stream of "Dale Chihuly and the Masters of Venice", highly recommend.

As Lino toured the studio this morning to give his OK for the new layout, he declared that he loved this piece. His granddaughter told him, well, you ought to, to made it! He replied that he didn't remember it but the more he studied it, the more he remembered. Generally, his mental capacities are spot on, but after 70 years of work, sometimes pieces fall through the memory slots. This piece has two different faces and and also has etching on the glass which is different for each color layer.

(close up of pattern)

This is Lino's last piece, part of his dragon series. Last year, he disappeared with his two favorite 'helpers' and no one could find them for days! When they came back, he said he needed to create this one without interruption.

All of the pieces above were created by Lino for family events - weddings, confirmations, etc. He created an individual piece for each; what a wonderful thing to have!

I just loved the piece above. It was sitting on an upper shelf in the upstairs studio and you almost couldn't see it as a light was not shining on it, but down toward where we were standing.

We loved our time and were sad to leave the studio, but back to Florence we must go!