Venice Attractions

Venue: Museo del Merletto    When: Daily; not Tue

The ancient craft of lace and embroidery, practiced by Venetian specialists for centuries, experienced a bit of a revival in 1978 thanks to the establismment of this museum on the site of an old school of lacemaking.

The museum contains more than 100 exhibits of lacework, including pictures, documents, patterns and details of the manufacturing process, and is well worth a visit both for the amateur and the hardcore enthusiast. It also organises professional courses in lacework, plus talks and exhibitions.

The origins of the Venetian lacework tradition are lost in time. Legends tell of a young woman whose beloved, a crusader bound for the Holy Land, had left her a bit of seaweed to remember him by. The forlorn young woman, realising that the seaweed was wilting day by day, decided to recreate the seaweed from her father's fishnets. Thus was born the first Merletto.

The first records of the merletto, with its particular designs and techniques, appeared in Venice around the 15th century. Its origins probably lie in Asia Minor and Greece, but with time it became irrevocably linked to the Venetian islands. By the 19th century, however, the Venetian craft was in decline and out of fashion with patterns being lost as practitioners and artisans died of old age. Thanks to the museum, Merletto has managed to make its mark in the 21st century.