In our last post, I promised pictures of the most outstanding feature of our new apartment – the amazing glass.

Our apartment is called “Venini.”  We did not understand the significance of that when we booked.  When we arrived, we discovered absolutely beautiful glass sculptures, vases, and bowls.  Most of it is under lock and key.  We were mesmerized.

We met the owner (he dropped by with the Italian plumber after we discovered a leak in the radiator – another story), who proudly told us the glass was from his personal collection and is Venini (a big deal!). 

Venini is one of the oldest and most famous glass families on Murano.  www.venini.com

The Venini Fornace (kiln) was founded by Paolo Venini in 1921.  Since then, they have added other artists to their collection and trained numerous glassmakers, including the American glassmaker, Chihuly.  Their pieces are found in opera houses, museums, and hotels all over the world. 

And every day we get to wake up to our own personal gallery!

Then there is my favorite art installation. 

Do you see it?  The balloon? 

It is glass and hangs by an invisible thread from the ceiling. 

The owner told me it is a Di Marchi (another big deal!). 

Livio Di Marchi is an avante garde artist in Venice, whose designs are whimsical and usually on a large scale.  One of his recent noteworthy ventures was floating a wooden violin-shaped barge down the Grand Canal with a string quartet playing Vivaldi. It was meant to signify the re-birth of Venice after the pandemic. Check out this video:

He did a series of balloons, and a signed De Marchi balloon is rare and no longer for sale.  There are lots of smaller copies in the shops, but we have an original. 

All of this has certainly spiced up my Zoom background on work calls!