Even though water is everywhere, fire has always been a scourge in Serenissima's long history. As he said Marin Sanudo in his Diary, just a spark was enough to cause a disaster and even San Marco and the Doge's Palace were not spared.
Precisely to avoid fire, the Grand Council of the Republic decided, on November 8, 1291, the transfer of all (dangerous) glassmaking furnaces from Venice to nearby Murano. Thus the “glass island” was born. Despite the difficulty of obtaining raw materials, in the following centuries the industry flourished and between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Murano masters became leaders in the production of luxury glass in Europe.