27 March, 2026
The historic Orsoni furnace, in collaboration with the association Il Granello di Senape, will inaugurate on Wednesday, September 17 at 3:00 p.m. the first mosaic workshop inside the Santa Maria Maggiore Prison in Venice.
The project, entitled “Pieces of a Mosaic”, will involve a group of inmates who, through eight weekly lessons led by master mosaicist Massimo Daissè, will embark on a journey of discovery and experimentation with the Venetian mosaic tradition.
The workshop will combine technical training and personal creativity: each participant will design the initials of their own name and then translate them into a mosaic artwork using colored glass smalti donated by the Orsoni furnace. Through learning about the history of mosaics, compositional techniques, and the art of cutting tesserae, the inmates will create a collective work that becomes a metaphor for reconstruction and inner freedom.
“Pieces of a Mosaic” was created with the aim of offering a space for expression and renewal, intended as the first step in a long-term project to be further developed in collaboration with the Santa Maria Maggiore Prison.
The workshop is part of the Art & Culture program promoted by Orsoni Venezia 1888, which for years has fostered the dissemination of mosaic culture through conferences, talks, exhibitions, artist residencies, and educational workshops. With the project Schools & Mosaic, launched in collaboration with the Municipality of Venice, Murano and Burano, the furnace has engaged primary and secondary schools over the past four years. Starting in 2025, with “Pieces of a Mosaic”, this commitment is now extended to the social sphere.
“With this project – comments Riccardo Bisazza, President of Orsoni Venezia 1888 – we want to share the beauty and the power of mosaics as a cultural and creative tool capable of generating inclusion, dialogue, and hope. Every tessera, like every person, is an essential part of a greater design.”
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