Burano Lace and the Painted Houses of Murano & Burano

Burano is the half of the day people photograph and the half they know least about. The colours are governed by the comune, the lace is stitched onto air rather than cloth, and the bell tower leans because the ground beneath it is soft. All three are worth knowing before you step off the boat.

The colours, and who decides them

The palette along Burano’s canals is managed, not accidental. A resident who wants to repaint applies to the comune for the colour, and the answer comes back as a specific shade for that specific house. The result is a street that reads as a composition rather than a collection.

Islanders tell a story about fishermen picking out their own homes through lagoon fog on the way in. It is a good story and it may well have started the habit, but it is tradition rather than record. Enjoy it as one, and note that almost every murano and burano island tour lands you on this stretch of water.

Punto in aria: lace worked in the air

Burano’s technique is needle lace, and its name is literal. Punto in aria means “stitch in the air”: the pattern is built on a temporary framework of threads tacked to a paper backing, rather than worked into a woven ground. When the piece is finished, the tacking is cut and the lace lifts away complete.

That is why it takes so long. A collar can run to months of work, and larger pieces were historically divided between several women, each responsible for one stitch type. Nobody made a whole piece alone.

The school that saved the craft in 1872

By the middle of the nineteenth century the trade had almost gone. In 1872 a lace school, the Scuola dei Merletti, opened on Burano to teach the technique again and to give the island’s women paid work. It ran for over a century.

The building now houses the Museo del Merletto on Piazza Galuppi, the island’s main square. No tour in the lineup includes museum entry, so it is a stop for your free time rather than something a guide will walk you to.

The leaning campanile and the Fondamenta

The bell tower of San Martino leans visibly out of true. Burano is built on lagoon sediment, and the tower has settled unevenly since it was raised. From the far side of the main canal the tilt is obvious enough to read in a photograph.

The Fondamenta along the water is where the colours are, and it faces the low afternoon sun. If you are choosing between a morning and an afternoon departure and photographs matter, take the afternoon.

Buying lace without buying an import

Some lace on Burano is made on Burano, by a small number of remaining lacemakers. A good deal of what is sold along the main street is not. The difference is visible once you know what to look for.

• Look at the back: handmade needle lace has no machine-regular repetition and no woven ground behind the pattern.
• Ask where it was made: a shop selling island-made work will say so without hesitation and usually name the maker.
• Expect the price: months of work is priced like months of work. A tablecloth for the price of a coffee was not stitched here.
• Buy small: a genuine handmade edging or a small round is affordable in a way a full cloth is not.

Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on every departure listed.

How much time Burano needs

Two hours is the number. Burano is small, but the point of it is wandering — the back lanes away from the main street are where the island stops performing and starts being a place people live. An hour gets you the main canal and the shops, and not much else.

Where to go next

The furnace side of the day is covered on Murano glass, and the third island has its own page at Torcello. For boats, timings and what to wear, see visiting the islands. Murano & Burano Islands Tours compares every departure by fare and island time.