Italy Travel Diary: Murano
In our previous post, we explored Venice, including St. Mark's Square and the Accademia Bridge. This time, we're heading to Murano, the island famous for its glassmaking!
Getting to Murano
Today, we're visiting Murano, an island northeast of Venice known for its glassmaking. You can get there by vaporetto, Venice's public water bus.
We already had a two-day water bus pass, so the trip to Murano was included at no extra cost. For more about the tickets and getting around when we first arrived in Venice, see our Day 1 post below.
First, we walked to the water bus stop around the location shown below. We were planning to take route 4.1 or 4.2.
The walk to the stop took about 15 minutes. For our visit to Murano, we kept things light with a small crossbody bag.
I also carry a compact power bank that's easy to take along 👇
Along the way, we caught glimpses of everyday life in Venice that I found beautiful. It's the kind of scene you rarely see back home in Japan. For some reason, it reminded me of something from West Side Story. I couldn't resist taking a photo—hopefully no one minded!
Even a quiet canal like this feels special. For the people who live here, it's simply part of everyday life, but as visitors, we find beauty in those ordinary moments. It made me wonder whether there's something just as lovely hidden in our own daily routines.
We arrived at F.te Nove. You can see an island across the water, which I later found out is a cemetery island. Our destination, Murano, lies beyond it.
We've arrived in Murano!
The sun started coming out, making the town look even more colorful.
There were quite a few other visitors exploring the island too.
Visiting the Murano Glass Museum
Our first stop was the Murano Glass Museum. On an island famous for glassmaking, it seemed like the perfect place to start.
You can buy tickets online before arriving on the island.
Book Murano Glass Museum tickets here (instant ticket issuance)
Time to head inside! I forgot to photograph the exterior, but the museum seemed to appear quite suddenly as we walked along. It blended into the surroundings more than I'd expected, rather than looking like an obvious museum building. The walk from our water bus stop took about 15 minutes.
The first area featured glass pieces that felt more like works of contemporary art.
What is this one supposed to be—a letter?
These had a lovely Christmas feel. They made me want to buy an ornament to take home.
These pieces show one of Murano's distinctive glass styles, with colorful circular patterns decorating the glass.
The technique is called millefiori. Colorful glass rods are drawn out and cut into small cross sections, which are then arranged together to create flower-like patterns. It reminded me of traditional Japanese Kintaro candy, where slicing a patterned candy log reveals the same design in every piece.
Here's how the little patterns look when scattered across a piece.
There was a garden too. Is this a glass waterfall?
Glass grapes! I was tempted, but we already have something similar on a shelf at home that we bought at a glass museum in Hakone, Japan, so I settled for admiring them. I have such a weakness for things like this.
Lunch on Murano
After exploring the museum, it was time for lunch. Italian food, of course! We chose Trattoria Busa alla Torre. It looked like a place that catered to tourists, but the reviews seemed fairly good. The menu appeared to feature plenty of seafood pasta dishes.
There were plenty of outdoor tables, so we decided to eat outside. Around us, pigeons and seagulls were competing for scraps of food. It was a full-on battle, and the seagulls were definitely winning. The pigeons didn't stand a chance.
The seagull in this photo swooped in from a distance, stole a piece of bread the pigeons had gathered around, and then casually strutted back to its own patch with the prize in its beak. What a power move.
Yes, this one. Such a noble face for such a shameless bread thief.
Back to our own food! We ordered a meat dish and a pasta dish with what I think were mussels. Both were delicious. I'm actually not a big seafood fan, but I finished this pasta in no time.
We also had tiramisu—when in Italy! It was quite sweet, but the cream reminded me of the whipped cream at Starbucks, so it didn't feel too heavy. I wanted to have one of those “It tastes so much better in its home country!” moments, but honestly, it was fairly ordinary. Personally, I preferred the tiramisu we'd tried at another restaurant.
Browsing the Glass Shops
Murano's glass shops are fun to explore even if you're just browsing. In this shop, an artisan was working on glass pieces right inside.
Little glass blocks for sale. I thought they'd look lovely decorating a picture frame.
There were glass monsters too. Their wonderfully odd eyes gave each one quite a personality.
This one was the strangest of the lot. A little creepy, honestly!
This next shop was back in Venice itself. You'll find plenty of glass shops like this there too.
So beautiful! My RICOH GR IIIx really came into its own here. After browsing all that glass, we ended up buying an ornament. Now I can't wait for Christmas.
My travel companion—and the camera behind the photos on this blog—is the RICOH GR IIIx. If you want beautiful photos without carrying bulky equipment, I highly recommend it. For me, this compact camera delivers images that hold their own against much larger cameras.
I've written more about the camera here.
I also shoot videos with a GoPro HERO13. Its wide-angle footage makes it a great companion to the GR IIIx.
Wrapping Up Our Visit to Murano
That was our morning on Murano on Day 3. It's an easy water bus trip from Venice, so consider adding it to your itinerary. At first, I thought glass would be too fragile and bulky to make a practical souvenir. But once I saw all those beautiful pieces, I couldn't help wanting to bring something home!
Next, we're sharing our afternoon visit to the Doge's Palace and more wandering around Venice. Read on here ↓
For an overview of our entire Italy trip, start here 👇
