{"id":1411,"date":"2012-09-07T18:17:07","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T22:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/?p=1411"},"modified":"2012-09-07T18:17:08","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T22:17:08","slug":"edu-travel-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/edu-travel-in-italy","title":{"rendered":"Edu-travel in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Boats<\/a><\/p>\n

This article was originally featured in\u00a0Explorica\u2019s 2012 fall magazine. We\u2019ll be sharing 20 life-changing travel experiences throughout the season. Transform your students\u2019 lives (and maybe your own) with any of these exceptional educational travel experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine being forced to move to an island because you were so skilled at your job, and leaving was a crime punishable by death.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just what master Venetian glassblowers faced in 1291 when the city forced them to move to the island of Murano.<\/p>\n

[hs_action id=”1421″]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Venetian government lived in fear of losing its monopoly over the glassmakers\u2019 exquisite works, so they packed them up and shipped them off. They fawned and f\u00eated their captive glassmakers, allowing them to wear swords (a privilege usually given only to the aristocracy) and marry into prestigious families\u2014they just couldn\u2019t leave their little island. Ever. Apart from protecting trade secrets so important to Venice\u2019s prominence, isolating glassblowers also served to quell concerns over fires spreading from their hot furnaces through the streets of Venice.<\/p>\n

Judge one of the world\u2019s oldest art forms for yourself as you go behind the scenes to watch the mesmerizing skills of a local Venetian glassblower. In existence since Byzantine times, the technique you\u2019ll see today remains largely unchanged. Heating the silica compound to a liquid state, the artisan has a narrow window of time to mold the glass before it hardens. See how the most delicate and intricate figurines emerge from glowing fire and black iron rods.<\/p>\n

Though Venetian glass is now admired as a contemporary art, glass was first produced in the 12th century as beads for Catholic rosaries. Later, Venetians revolutionized the way mirrors were made\u2014glass panes lined with foil instead of polished metal. Continuing to innovate, Venice\u2019s glassblowers discovered in the 16th century something we now take for granted\u2014how to make glass clear. Glass before then was cloudy, making your see-through windows indebted forever to Venice.<\/p>\n

From stunning colour to clarity and elaborate design, enjoy Venetian glass for both its decorative beauty and practical function. Perhaps you\u2019ll leave Italy with a vase, a year-round ornament, or a beautiful glass paperweight. No matter what you choose, you\u2019ll come home with an Italian treasure and a new appreciation for one secret that we\u2019re all glad finally got out.<\/p>\n

[hs_action id=”1421″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally featured in\u00a0Explorica\u2019s 2012 fall magazine. We\u2019ll be sharing 20 life-changing travel experiences throughout the season. Transform your students\u2019 lives (and maybe your own) with any of these exceptional educational travel experiences. Imagine being forced to move to an island because you were so skilled at your job, and leaving was a Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,63,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1411"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1429,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions\/1429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}