The first objects are born

The history of the transparency

The legend takes us back to the discovery of glass more than 2000 years before Christ. Pliny the Elder relates that Phoenician merchants fused, by sheer chance, blocks of natural soda with fine sand. The result of the mixture was extraordinary. Indeed, they obtained a very hard composite that was completely transparent. These characteristics were absolutely singular for the epoch, and, in any case, the first people to fully exploit of the magical product were the Egyptians.

 

With the passing of the centuries many diverse and ingenious working methods were used, such as open air blowing and blowing into moulds.

 

The Romans, along with the total conquest of the Mediterranean and the most important Middle Eastern markets, used this same art. The spread was very rapid and before long the whole empire knew the "Glass Civilization", trade centered around this product multiplied and with it the production of true works of Art, which are today preserved in the most important European Museums.

But how is Glass made?

There is a high fusion (between 1200 and 1600 degrees) of silicon (sand), calcium carbonate and soda carbonate, to which are added "refined" composites that improve the shine and the homogeneity, and metal oxides that confer the characteristic amalgamation of colours. The absence of air bubbles is synonymous with the quality of the composite. Then the still incandescent amalgam is worked with the techniques of the craft but, these are sophisicated, like the blowing (for obtaining empty and closed objects) and the turning (for obtaining plates and vases); then it passes to the "tempering" phase, where the objects are held for long hours of various duration in special ovens at a constant temperature of 800 degrees.

 

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With the fall of the Roman Empire the production of glass ceased, perhaps it was too complex and refined for the barbarian populations of the time, and it was necessary to wait for the conquest of Costantinople at the hands of the Crusaders in order to appreciate again the wonders of his art.

The Glass and Venice

The Venetian merchants and artists intuited immediately the artistic and economic potential of the product. They refined the best working techniques and, by adding minerals, succedded in creating mixtures ever more colorful, homogeneous and bright; consequently, as a security measure linked to the frequent fires, the glass production was transferred to Murano. The legend of "The Island of Glass" was born. As well as that of the "Glass Art Masters", whole dynaaties of artists who have passed down, from hand to hand, until today, the virtues and secrets of an incredible working art.