Venice The winds of crisis howling through the world are rattling the doors of the glass blowers of Murano.and more and more furnaces are closing leaving space for more hotels and tourist attactions
Two factors are routinely cited in the industry's decline. One is the difficulty of recruiting young Venetians. The work is demanding and uncomfortable. Glassmakers spend much of their day close to kilns heated to 1400 degrees. The other factor is cheap imitation products.