Around Venice Lagoon, Venice, Italy

Every guidebook to Venice out there mentions three lagoon islands - usually sequenced as Murano, then Burano, then Torcello - as fairly unmissable targets on a Venetian itinerary. I hold a potentially unpopular opinion that only Burano rises to a must, while the other two are more of a special-interest kind. Nonetheless, on each of my visits to Venice, I have set aside a day to stop by all three. This time was no exception.

I did start with Burano, which is nothing short of a feast for the eyes. Everywhere you look, you see a burst of colors like in these perspectives. Captions are hardly necessary.

The bright palette originated in necessity. Distinct colors helped fishermen locate their houses in foggy conditions. I have always wondered why Burano is seemingly the only fishing village where such conditions had brought about such solution, but that certainly made the island unique.

There are also a couple of houses that stand alone in their decorative aspect, such as Casa di Gianfranco Rosso, also known as a “high-tide house” on account of marking the tide lines for recent floods…

There are a couple of minor points of interest on Burano, such as the Church of San Martino Vescovo or the Museum of Lace. Most visitors are likely to ignore them in favor of focusing on the colorful palette. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).