Event organized as part of the project ‘L’Arte delle perle di Vetro: dal museo alla
scuola’ (PR Veneto ERDF 2021-2027) – Action 4.6.1 "Interventions in favor of UNESCO sites (DGR n°701/2025) – CUP F79125001290002".

This year marks the sixth edition of the conference dedicated to glass beads, which the
Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia organizes annually as part of The Venice Glass Week,
the festival founded in 2017 to celebrate, support, and promote the art of glass. Each year,
the theme chosen provides an opportunity to explore a specific aspect of the history and
production of glass beads over the centuries on a global scale, thanks to the participation of
renowned national and international speakers.

The dawn of the modern age, marked by the geographical discoveries in the New World and
the oceanic routes opened by Spain and Portugal, shifted the focus of global trade from the
Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, undermining the longstanding Venetian and Ottoman
monopoly on the spice trade. Yet, amid this profound transformation, Venice succeeded in
reasserting its economic centrality by establishing itself as the leading supplier of glass
beads,a strategic and indispensable commodity in the triangular trade linking Europe, Africa,
and the Americas.

PROGRAMME

14 SEPTEMBER, 10:00am–12:30pm:

10:00am
Chiara Squarcina – Direttrice Scientifica Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia
Augusto Panini – Esperto e storico delle perle

Opening greetings and introduction to the themes of the conference

10:30am
Paloma Pastor Rey de Viñas – Museo Tecnológico del Vidrio - Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja - Segovia
From Murano to La Granja: The Journey of Glassmaking Knowledge

11:15am
Ignasi Domènech Vives – Museus de Sitges
Between Catalonia and Venice: Relations, Transfers and the Circulation of Glass from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century

12:00pm
Questions from the audience and discussion


2:30pm–5:30pm

2:30pm
Pierre Niccolò Sofia – Università di Padova
Cadice e Lisbona: due porte d’accesso al mondo atlantico nell’era dei commerci globali

3:15pm
Francisca Pulido Valente – Universidade Nova de Lisboa
VICARTE-Vidro e Cerâmica para as Artes-Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
Millefiori glass unearthed in Portugal featuring distinctive murrine patterns: Venetian or Façon-de-Venise glass artefacts?

4:00pm
Andreia Martins Torres – Universidad de Salamanca
Beads on Board: Possessions, People and Exchange in the Portuguese Indian Ocean

4:45pm
Questions from the audience and discussion


15 SEPTEMBER, 10:00am–1:00pm:

10:00am
Opening of the proceedings

10:15am
Luca Molà – University of Warwick
Venetian Glass Beads for Iberian Markets in the Late Sixteenth Century

11:00am
Aitor Labajo Román – Universidad de Valladolid
Geographical Distribution of Glass in Archaeological Sites across the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands

11:45am
Augusto Panini – Esperto e storico delle perle
Le perle di vetro veneziane nel commercio globale dell’Età Moderna

12:30pm
Questions from the audience and discussion. Closing of the conference

Throughout the conference, simultaneous Italian/English translation will be available.