Since ancient times men have always paid an almost mystical attention to glass, attributing to the transparencies of such matter something magic and supernatural. The magicians of legends used to foresee the future by means of crystal spheres and chemists and alchemists analysed prisms in the constant search of the philosopher’s stone which could turn metal into gold. Still nowadays, the tourist visiting Murano can find the same sceneries that in past centuries have inspired writers and legends. In fact the structure of furnaces has remained unchanged and technology is present only in little details; all this is due to the devotion that the masters have always shown towards traditions that, like a clock, have always scanned the time during more than one thousand years of history of glassware in Venice. The origins of the glass art in Venice date back to the century preceding the millenary. Some excavations have brought to light some pieces proving the presence of such activity already in the seventh century, both on Torcello and Murano islands. But it was during the twelfth century that the glass art became an organized manufacturing activity. In that period such craft concentrated in Murano island, up to the moment when the Republic decreed the transfer of all the still working furnaces of the historical centre to the island, because of security reasons related particularly to the risk of fire. We can assume that then the techniques were refined in Venice more than elsewhere in Europe thanks to the trade relationships that the Venetians had with the Near East and above all with the countries of ancient glass tradition, such as the Fenix, Syrian and Egyptian peoples. Such tradition represented an opportunity of putting together again western and eastern knowledge and techniques, in order to confer to the lagoon production those features which have made it so important all over the world during many centuries. The ancient Amurianum, that was the name of the island in ancient times, increased its glamour so it was no longer considered one of the islands of Venice, but it could enjoy a certain independence as for the Seigniory. Such privilege was given to the island for the activity of the furnaces which had been settled there and in consequence of that for the economical importance that Murano began to acquire in the social tissue of the Serenissima. With the doge edict promulgated by Doge Tiepolo in 1291, Murano island was declared a real industrial area and soon it became the world capital of glassware production. The doge was represented by a head of the commune with a popular governing body and among the privileges given to the inhabitants of the island, we can remember the extraordinary concession that the families of Murano enjoyed, to become related to Venetian noble people. The affinity between Venice and Murano is curiously proved also by the morphology of the two ‘towns’, which have got the same campi, narrow streets and internal waterways and even the Canal Grande which crosses them. The glassware craft was safeguarded by means of sanctions which forbade to carry out such activity to those who were not registered as craftsmen and to those who wanted to move abroad. The kind of production was above all utilitarian and in series, as for instance the bottles for wine and oil, glasses, lamps and so on. Also many decorative objects endowed with religious images were produced. During the centuries the manufacturing of glass became one of the main activities of the Republic. In particular in the Fifteenth century there was a significant development of this art, particularly due to the passage to the transparent white glass which looked like crystal. In the furnaces another kind of glass appeared: the porcelain or lattimo, which, for its peculiarities, was suitable for imitating the precious Ming porcelain. All these innovations contributed to develop a production of artistic kind too, besides the manufacturing one. During the Sixteenth century the glassworks activity underwent a critical moment. The main cause was the increase of the glass masters’ emigration and the discover of a new type of crystal glass with lead and of a crystal glass with potassium having a high lime content, all that occurred in Boemia and in England in 1676. Nonetheless Murano succeeded in being renewed by increasing the level of refinement and elegance of its production and by offering some renewed or even new products in order to satisfy the rising needs of comfort related to a wealthy and elegant way of living. Mirrors and chandeliers became significant objects of Murano production in that period.