PHOTOGRAPHING VENICE: THE LAGOON AND BURANO
Our expert photographer will meet you at the Line 12 Fondamente Nuove vaporetto (waterbus) landing at 4.30 pm, when the light begins to soften, and all the regular tourists are returning from their Murano/Burano tour.
The boat trip will be quiet, offering plenty of opportunities for grabbing great shots at strategic locations along our route to Burano (about 35 minutes).
Navigation across the placid waters of the Northern Lagoon touches the islands of San Michele (once a monastery, today Cemetery island, with cypress trees looming above the beautiful Neo Gothic walls that surround it); Murano, with its resolute, white lighthouse; two tiny, abandoned islands (San Giacomo and the Madonna del Monte), evocative of the past splendors of this area; and the verdant island of Mazzorbo, Burano’s next-door neighbor.
Behind us lies the distinctive silhouette of Venice itself, with its easily distinguishable bell towers and domes. In front of us, on a clear day, we will have the mountains to form the backdrop to our photos. The liquid mirror of the calm waters around us
reflects the changing colors of the sky and the elegant rows of bricole = wooden channel markers cross the shallow lagoon.
The atmosphere is ideal, especially for those that like to depict the ‘ephemeral’.
Arriving at Burano around 5.00 pm, we will still be able to see some everyday activity of the island: we will visit a traditional bakery—the island is famous for its cookies—and one of the renown lacemaking workshops to take some intimate shots of the patient female hands and of their intricate needlework, maybe snap the locals who’ve gather in the square to play a bit of music over an ombre or two.
The ambience of Burano at sunset, with its vividly colored houses, boats and picturesque canals will be a magic moment for your pictures. Under the guidance of our expert, you will discover intimate corners and significant moments of the everyday life of this photogenic island adored by painters.
On the way back to Venice our journey on the vaporetto will enchant you with endless reflections on the dark peaceful waters.
At this point, if required, our guide will be there with useful advice about restaurants, wine bars…as you like! learn how to make the best out of it.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Navigation through the Northern Lagoon by public transportation
- Explore Lagoon landscapes and Burano island with a professional photographer
MORE ABOUT
THIS TOUR
PHOTOGRAPHING VENICE: THE LAGOON & BURANO
The Venetian lagoon has a surface area of around 550 square kilometers (210 square miles.) Only a mere 8% is occupied by land, including Venice itself and about forty smaller islands.
About 11% is permanently covered by water, its watercourses being called canals. Approximately 80% consists of mud flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes. Venice and its lagoon were included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.
A very evocative and almost ‘photographic’ image of everyday life in the Lagoon goes back to the late 15th century: Vettore Carpaccio’s ‘Hunting on the Lagoon’, where hunters are seen in traditional lagoon boats practicing cormorants’ fishing. While the evanescent atmospheres of the lagoon are masterfully rendered by Turner’s ‘moonlights’ and ‘sunsets’ and ‘storms.
In Burano, like in many Mediterranean villages, men worked mostly as fishermen, while women developed special skills in working with thread and needle on the fishing nets.
In the 16th century, lace became so popular, and the demand of expert laborers grew, the women’s skills were transformed into extremely intricate and elegant laces used to decorate altar tables, tablecloths, and garments. Somehow—and with difficulty—the tradition of Burano lacemaking has survived the centuries and has been handed down to our generations, as recounted in the Burano lace museum, Museo dei Merletti.
Before World War I, young ‘rebel’ painters like Umberto Moggioli and Pio Semeghini found on this secluded island their refuge, cenacle, and inspiration: in their canvases, the ethereal surfaces of the enchanted houses evoke an almost metaphysical atmosphere.
A century ago, Tomaso Filippi, a renowned Venetian photojournalist, used his camera to document the life and working activities on these islands at the time in which progress and motorboats were changing forever the traditional rhythms of the past centuries.
Today, Burano boasts a Cooperative society of local fishermen who provide baby sea bass and sea bream to the fish farms of the Lagoon.
DRESS CODE AND ADVICE
- Comfortable clothing and shoes
COST
- This tour lasts appr. 3.50 hours
- Costs: from 360 Euros (depending on participants’ number)
CONTACT US
WALKS INSIDE ITALY
ART CITY WALKS aff. Network Giv
San Polo 1541 30125 VENICE, ITALY
C.F. e P. Iva 04331170276
Prot. 2016/16140 del 25-2-2016
Polizza Europ Assistance 8957877