The Barovier Cup at the Glass Museum of Murano in Venice

What to give for a wedding has always been a very difficult question. At the Museum of Glass in Murano, the small island in the lagoon of Venice, famous throughout the world for its glass blowing, you can admire one of the most beautiful objects ever given away for someone's wedding: the Barovier cup.

It's made of dark blue glass, decorated in enamel and gold, and was made between 1470 and 1480 as a wedding gift for the two characters depicted in the medallions; in addition two allegorical scenes are depicted, a ride and a swim to the fountain of love and of youth, that were to serve as a good omen for the new couple.

This cup is so famous that even today it is produced in the same way in which the original was made more than 500 years ago and by the same furnace that produced it. The Barovier & Toso is considered among the world's oldest family businesses still in operation as it has existed from the middle of the 13th century.

The cup is kept in the Palazzo Giustiniani, which since 1861 has housed the Museum of Glass Art, where you can admire a beautiful collection of glass objects, ranging from archaeological ones from the 2nd century B.C. until the most recent creations of Venetian glass.

Palazzo Giustiniani was built following a design by Antonio Gaspari from 1680 onwards for the Bishop of Torcello Marco Giustiniani, who moved the episcopal seat here, because of malaria which was rampant in Torcello.

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