Diretto Murano

After the severe crisis suffered by the economy of Venice, especially with regards to the glass industry, in the fifty years following the fall of the Serenissima, glass making was resumed with renewed vigour in the 1860s. Two institutions in particular became the centres of reference for the glass-makers of the time: the Museo Vetrario (Glass Museum), founded in 1861, where they could gather information on the technical and aesthetic aspects of antique glass-making and the Scuola di Disegno per Vetrai (Drawing School for Glass-makers), founded in 1862, where they attended academic drawing and decoration classes. From its foundation until the early 1970s, some of the most skilled Muranese glass makers attended the evening classes at the School, thereby acquiring the ability to design their own projects, to read projects by others properly and to develop the artistic sensibility and sense of proportion indispensable for anyone working in the field of art crafts.
The Scuola di Disegno died of natural death in the early 70s. However, soon after - about twenty years ago - the Municipality of Venice conceived the idea of founding a new school adequate to the needs of the time, more articulate and designed to train and promote Murano glass makers. To this end a building, listed as an industrial archaeology site and a former branch of the Montecatini factory, was purchased and restored by architect Franca Pittalunga in collaboration with architect Pietro Zan.
The architecture of the building, fascinating in itself and duly enhanced by the restoration work, includes a typical Muranese furnace, a studio for a lume modelling of pearls and figurines, a glass engraving and grinding laboratory - yet to be completed -, a stained-glass window laboratory, a computer room and drawing and theory lesson classrooms. The library specialises in glass-making but is also due to hold in deposit the archives of former glassworks and glass laboratories, which will be made available for consultation to academics. Plans have already been made also for a fusing laboratory and for an enamel and gold leaf decoration lab.
The great hall of the building is an ideal space for conferences and exhibitions, on glass needless to say.
The beautiful school building has been entrusted by the Municipality of Venice to the Abate Zanetti S.R.L., whose associate members are the Municipality of Venice, the Province and the Chamber of Commerce. The school is managed by an administration board presided by Comm. Guido Ferro, former president of the association of glass manufacturers of the province of Venice. The school is named after the Muranese Abbot, Vincenzo Zanetti, who in 1861 and 1862 founded the Glass Museum and the first School of Drawing, both of which played a key role in the renaissance of Muranese glass-making in the 19th century. The co-ordination of the courses has been entrusted to the person writing, Rosa Barovier Mentasti, while the management is presided by Giovanni Finco. Architect Pietro Pelzel’s technical assistance has been invaluable with regards to the setting up of the equipment and to the functioning of the furnace and the labs and mention must be made of Silvana Gubetta, our versatile Piemontese-bred secretary now perfectly at ease in the Venetian world of glass-making.
Concerning the mission of the school, the courses are mainly designed for people from Murano, Venice and the hinterland who wish to work in the field of glass-making. The situation is far more complex for what concerns the courses on furnace glass work, since the cost of running the Muranese-style furnace of the school is extremely high, as it is for all the other active furnaces on the island. There is certain degree of scepticism within the Muranese milieu towards the adoption of a formal approach to glasswork teaching, given that in Murano the only school of glass-making has always been the furnace, however a school seems to be an indispensable instrument, albeit not the only one, to reinvigorate the interest of younger generations in glass and to provide them with the cultural motivations to embark on a professional career in this field. In the U.S., Australia and Northern Europe furnace work comes at the end of a specialist school which provides not only practical courses but also theory lessons on glass techniques, drawing, design, art history and the art of glass. Given that Venice today is experiencing a decline in vocation, why not take up the positive example from abroad adapting it to the Muranese tradition?
Obviously the School aspires to generous sponsors willing to cover the costs of a variety of activities. So far it has succeeded in obtaining an interesting sponsorship from the Margherita Ripamonti Association for the realisation of a tree-shaded garden, with the contribution of the firm Insulae for the paved sections, which will provide the students with a leisure, as well as study, area. Support for the furnishings has been given by Aldo Bellini of the Scaletta del Vetro gallery of Milan, by Trudy Sammartini and, for the setting up of the Trieste Contemporanea “Fragile!” exhibition, by Renzo Ferro, administrator of Rovefin Finanziaria and of Laguna Murano Glass. Lele Masiol, the grand manager of the ’Alla Busa’ restaurant of Murano, has always generously offered the parties for openings and conferences while the association Soroptimist of Venice has donated the considerable sum of 3000 Euro for study grants. Indeed the school can count on good friends and will continue to do so in the future.

Rosa Barovier Mentasti