Most Murano glass listings throw around words like "sommerso" or "pulegoso" without ever explaining what they mean. These aren't decorative labels. They're the actual methods a glassmaker used while the piece was still molten, and once you know what to look for, you'll spot them in seconds. Here's a plain breakdown of the techniques you'll run into most often, what each one looks like, and how to tell them apart before you buy.
What does "technique" actually mean in Murano glass?
A technique is the specific method a glassmaker uses while the glass is hot and workable, before it cools and locks the shape in place for good. Some techniques control color, like layering tints inside the glass. Others control texture, like trapping air bubbles on purpose. Some control shape, like folding a rim while it's still soft, or surface pattern, like fusing pre-made glass canes into the piece as it's formed.
Knowing the technique tells you more than what something looks like on a shelf. It usually points to a rough era, since certain methods were closely tied to specific decades and workshops. It also hints at the skill behind the piece. A clean sommerso gradient or a tightly set murrine pattern takes real control over molten glass, and that level of control is part of what collectors are actually paying for.
Sommerso: layered color, submerged inside the glass
Sommerso means "submerged" in Italian, and that's exactly the effect. The glassmaker dips a colored glass form into one or more layers of differently colored or clear glass, so each color sits inside the next like nested shells. Hold a piece up to the light and look through the side rather than straight down, and you'll see distinct color bands rather than a single solid hue.
The technique took off in Murano through the 1950s and 60s, with workshops like Seguso Vetri d'Arte and Cenedese, and with Flavio Poli's work for Seguso, often cited as the high point of the style. A typical sommerso piece pairs two colors, amber over smoke or red over clear are both common, though three-layer pieces exist and tend to command a higher price. You'll find sommerso most often on bowls and vases, but it also turns up in table lamp bases from the period. The tell for quality is a clean, even transition between layers. A murky or uneven boundary usually means a rushed or lower-grade piece.
Pulegoso: controlled bubbles, frosted texture
Pulegoso glass is packed with tiny trapped air bubbles, deliberately, not as a flaw. The surface usually has a soft, almost frosted look, and the bubbles scatter light instead of letting it pass straight through the way clear glass does.
Napoleone Martinuzzi developed the technique at Venini in the late 1920s, and it stuck around as a signature look for pieces that wanted texture and depth without full transparency. It shows up most on vases, bowls, and some lamp bases. If a piece looks cloudy or "foamy" under the surface rather than glass-clear, that's pulegoso, not a defect. One thing worth checking: genuine pulegoso bubbles vary in size and sit at slightly different depths. A piece where the bubbles look too uniform or evenly spaced is more likely a later mass-produced imitation.
Fazzoletto: the handkerchief shape
Fazzoletto means "handkerchief," and unlike sommerso or pulegoso, it's a shaping technique rather than a color or texture one. The glassmaker lets the rim of a bowl or vase fold and drape unevenly while the glass is still soft, so the finished piece looks like a square of fabric caught mid-drop.
Fulvio Bianconi designed the most famous fazzoletto vases for Venini in the 1940s, and the shape has been reproduced by other workshops ever since. They range from small single-color bowls to large, multi-color floor vases. The giveaway is the asymmetrical, draping rim. No two are folded exactly the same way, which is part of the appeal and also makes each piece a little harder to fake convincingly at scale.
Scavo: the weathered, "excavated" finish
Scavo means "dug" or "excavated," and the technique gives glass a matte, pitted surface that looks like it's been buried and unearthed, even though it left the workshop that way on purpose. Workshops achieved the look by treating the surface with acid or abrasive finishing that strips away the usual glossy shine.
You'll mostly see scavo on pieces meant to evoke ancient Roman or Etruscan glass, a popular reference point in mid-century Italian design. It turns up on vases, ashtrays, and the occasional lighting fixture. If a piece looks dusty or matte even after a proper cleaning, check whether it's scavo before assuming it needs more polishing or has been damaged. It hasn't, and it doesn't.
Murrine and zanfirico: pattern work from glass canes
Murrine and zanfirico both start with pre-made glass canes, but they create different effects. Murrine canes are pulled so a pattern, often a flower or starburst, runs through the cross-section. The cane is then sliced into thin discs and fused onto or into a piece, so each slice shows the same pattern. Zanfirico canes are twisted with thin colored threads running through clear glass, then used like ribbons to create fine, lace-like lines across a piece.
Both take real setup work before the glass is even blown, since the pattern has to survive the full shaping process without distorting. If you see small repeating flower-like discs, that's murrine. If you see fine twisted lines running through clear glass like threads suspended in resin, that's zanfirico. Both are also sometimes combined with sommerso layering, which is part of why high-end pieces from this category tend to sell for more than single-technique pieces. Consistent, evenly spaced patterning is a good sign of hand work; patterns that look stamped or printed rather than fused are worth a second look.
Quick reference: spotting each technique at a glance
| Technique | What it controls | Look for | Common era |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sommerso | Color | Layered color bands visible through the glass | 1950s–60s |
| Pulegoso | Texture | Tiny trapped bubbles, frosted look | Late 1920s onward |
| Fazzoletto | Shape | Folded, asymmetrical "handkerchief" rim | 1940s onward |
| Scavo | Surface | Matte, pitted, weathered finish | Mid-century |
| Murrine / Zanfirico | Pattern | Repeating discs (murrine) or twisted thread lines (zanfirico) | Spans most of the 20th century |
If you'd like to see these techniques in person, browse our Light & Lamps collection for original Murano pendant lamps and chandeliers, or explore the Decorative collection for vases, bowls, and objects across all the major techniques.