Il vetro tra storia e magia
La storia del vetro e della sua arte affonda
le radici nelle memorie mitiche e nel fasci-
no dell’incantesimo. Grande narratore del-
la Natura e dei suoi fenomeni, Plinio il
Vecchio ha lasciato un suggestivo aneddo-
to, fatto di navi mercantili cariche di nitro
che sbarcano sui lidi fenici e stanchi navi-
ganti che agognano il riposo.
Lingue liquide e lucenti, nate dall’unione
celebrata dal fuoco tra i pezzi di nitro a so-
stegno delle pentole, calce e silice della
sabbia: così per gli antichi ebbe inizio la
storia del vetro.
Proprio come una magia.
Il “Grande Emporio”
di Torcello: inizia
l’avventura lagunare
La tradizione del vetro veneziano, desti-
nato nei secoli seguenti a diventare pre-
zioso manufatto famoso in tutto il mon-
do, nasce in una vivace isola della laguna
settentrionale.
Prima che l’astro della Serenissima ini-
ziasse la propria parabola, l’isola di
Torcello, insediamento di notevoli dimen-
sioni fin dal V secolo d.C., rappresentava
uno dei più vitali centri della confedera-
zione insulare a cui apparteneva. Per lun-
go tempo, almeno fino al X secolo d.C.,
Torcello fu considerata commercialmente
il “Grande Emporio” della Laguna. I resti
di alcune fornaci dotate di forni di ricottu-
ra laterali attestano proprio su questo ter-
ritorio la presenza della più antica attività
vetraria in ambito veneziano.
La rapida e impetuosa crescita di Venezia,
a partire dai rioni di Olivolo e Rivoalto,
soppiantò a poco a poco l’attività di
Torcello: risale al 982 una donazione pa-
trizia sottoscritta, tra altri testimoni, da un
veneziano col significativo nome di
Domenico “fiolaro”. Era la fiola un reci-
piente in vetro dallo stretto collo, usato
per contenere liquidi: l’appellativo di que-
sto personaggio, richiamando il nome del
recipiente di vetro di cui forse era fabbri-
cante, ci consente di considerare la data del
982 una sorta di “terminus ante quem” per
la produzione veneziana di vetri.
Vale a dire che in territorio lagunare, prima
dell’anno 1000 d.C., il vetro veniva già
lavorato.
L’Arte dei “fiolai”,
maestri del vetro
All’inizio del 1200 i fiolai si riconoscono in
Arte, la tradizionale forma di associazione
professionale che riuniva gli addetti allo
stesso mestiere. I Maestri diedero vita an-
che alla Scuola, l’organismo che garantiva
il perpetuarsi di regole e tecniche di pro-
duzione.
Racconta Martino Da Canal in una cronaca
redatta in francese, che nel luglio del
1268, il popolo veneziano tributò una
grande festa al neoeletto Doge Lorenzo
Tiepolo. In quell’occasione, tra i rappre-
sentanti dei mestieri sfilarono anche i
maestri vetrai.
È di tre anni più tardi il riordino dello sta-
tuto dei vetrai, il Capitularis de Fiolariis.
La Storia
Glass between history
and magic
The history of glass and glass art is deeply
rooted in mythical memory and in the en-
chantment of magic. A great narrator of
Nature and its phenomena, Plinius the
Elder has left us a suggestive anecdote de-
scribing merchant ships loaded with nitrate
who sail onto Phoenician shores, and ex-
hausted sailors yearning for rest. Shining
liquid tongues flow from the union, cele-
brated by fire, between the slabs of nitrate
holding the pots, and the lime and silica of
the sand: this is how the Ancients recount
the origins of the history of glass. They do
indeed seem magical.
The “Great Emporium”
on Torcello: the Venetian
adventure begins
The tradition of Venetian glass, destined in
centuries to come to become a precious
and world-famous art, originates on a
populated island in the Northern lagoon.
Before the star of the Most Serene
Republic of Venice was to begin its ascent,
the island of Torcello, a large settlement
existing before the Vth century B.C.,
represented one of the most vital centers
in the confederation of islands to which it
belonged. For a long time, at least
through the Xth century B.C., Torcello was
considered the “Great Emporium” of the
Lagoon. The remains of several furnaces
complete with lateral kilns have been
found in this area, making it the oldest
center of glass production on the Venetian
territory.
The rapid and impetuous development of
Venice, which originated in the areas of
Olivolo and Rivoalto, soon outshone the
production on Torcello: in the year 982, a
document records the significant name of
Domenico “fiolaro”, one of the witnesses
of a donation from a Venetian patrician.
A fiola was a glass container with a long
thin neck, used to store liquids: this man’s
name, which referred to the glass contain-
er he probably manufactured, allows us to
consider the year 982 as a sort of “termi-
nus ante quem” for the production of
Venetian glass. In other words, before the
year 1000, glass was already being pro-
duced within the territory of the lagoon.
The Guild of the “fiolai”,
masters of glass
At the turn of the XIIIth century, the “fiolai”
were recognized as a Guild, the traditional
form of professional association for mem-
bers of the same trade. The glassmasters
also founded the Scuola, an institution
which guaranteed the continuity of rules
and production techniques.
In the French-language chronicles he
wrote, Martino Da Canal describes how in
July 1268, the Venetians held a grand
celebration for the newly-elected Doge
Lorenzo Tiepolo. On that occasion, the
glassmasters were one of the many trades
which participated in the procession.
The statute of the glassmasters, the
Capitularis de Fiolariis, was re-written
three years later. At that time glass
was made by mixing equal quantities
of vegetable ash and silica sand or quartz
powder: this mixture was melted in a kiln
called a calchera, and to it was added
ground glass and manganese; the result-
ing mixture was placed in the melting fur-
naces inside the paele, large pots placed
inside at each bocca, the hole (now
termed glory-hole) through which to ac-
cess the furnace.
The furnaces, which were kept burning by
the stizzador, ran day and night, organized
in twelve-hour shifts. In the centuries to
come this specific role came to be charac-
terized more and more as a “position of
trust”, and was traditionally assigned to
non-Muranese personnel, often from the
Friuli region, so that the stizzador also
came to be called “el furlan de note” - the
“night-shift Friulian”.
Murano is recognized
as the capital of glass art
To protect the safety of the city of
Rivoalto, where most of the houses were
built out of wood, a decree by the Maggior
Consiglio of the Republic, emanated on
November 8 1291, ordered the elimina-
tion of all the working furnaces in the
area. The island of Murano, where a num-
ber of workshops were already active,
thus became the heart of glass production
in the lagoon.
l’avventura lagunare del Vetro di Murano
The History
the Venetian adventure of Murano Glass
10
