A washing line hanging outside a deep pink house in Burano, an island on the Venetian lagoon, Venice, Italy.
Burano can be reached by a vaporetto journey of about 45 minutes from Fondamente Nove, which takes about twenty minutes to reach by walking from St Mark’s Square.
Burano is thought to have been occupied by the Romans, and was certainly occupied by people from Altino during the sixth century. The island became famous in the sixteenth century when the women of the settlement started to make lace, inspired by lace from Cyprus. The prestigious Scuola di Merletti (lace-making school) was established in 1872. Traditional hand-made lace is still being made by some women on the island, but much of what is available in the local shops is machine-made, as the hand made product is, naturally, comparatively very expensive.
Burano is traditionally a fishermen’s village, and legend has it that the houses are painted bright colours so that they could be seen from the sea. Similar traditions are told about other fishing villages, like Tobermory in Mull, Scotland. Nowadays, Burano houses are painted according to a stricty-controlled ‘system’.
Nowadays Burano’s income chiefly comes from the tourists who visit to walk along its colourful canals and roads.
Washing lines hanging outside houses, and even suspended over the canals on lines between houses on either side are a feature of Venice itself as well as Burano. When I visited I was told it was because Italian kitchens are tiny and don’t have space for tumble-dryers, but I’ve since read it’s because Italian housewives don’t believe in driers, thinking they destroy fabric. Whatever, it’s an environmentally-friendly luxury of a warm, mostly-dry climate!
This image is copyright © Liz Leyden. All rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
It is available for sale as various types of wall art, and as home and personal accessories, from my gallery at Pixels.com.
My original photograph, on which this image is based, is available to license as a stock photo from iStock.
