The women of tiny Burano island have been making lace since at least the 1400s, and this small, interesting museum tenderly recounts their history and traditions. Lace from Burano has long been a luxury item and at one point, hundreds of women were employed—often in sweatshop conditions—in the production of lace. A handful of lacemakers still live on the island today, and you can see them at work in the museum, which is in the former lacemaking academy.
Time Out tip: Real Burano lace is expensive, and cheap counterfeit products abound in Venice, most of it machine-made in factories nowhere near Burano. For a list of lace shops selling the real thing, check online.
Nearby:
Panificio Pasticceria Palmisano Carmelina: For homemade cookies from a postcard-pretty storefront
Via Baldassarre Galuppi: For a wander down Burano’s “Main Street”
Trattoria da Romano: For risotto that is the stuff of legend