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A weeklong study of the Venetian sky reveals a palette of moody huesfrom spirited azure and somber indigo to winsome lavender and rose. Nestled beneath this clamor of color, the library at the Orsoni mosaic foundry is filled with as many tonal variations as nature can foist upon its walled faade. Shelves of jewel-toned glass glow in the muted lightcerulean, daffodil, lime and crimson, filed by personality (fiery reds stacked beside juicy oranges and ferny greens) and by number (nearly 3,000 of them).

The alchemy that brings these colorful sheets into being has been carried forward by four generations of the Orsoni family. Though much of the transformative process from molten color to brittle media has remained a mystery to the novice for ages, the family has decided to share the art of mosaics with anyone who cares to sign up for a class.

Glass smalti has been created in the foundry, which rests within the Canneregio district of Venice, since 1888 when Angelo Orsoni fired his first incandescent furnace. It's Angelo's great-grandson Lucio Orsoni who has decided to demystify mosaic techniques that date back to the Byzantines, many of which have changed surprisingly little in the intervening centuries. During the "Living the Venice Workshop: History, Theory and Application of Mosaic Art," attendees are taught to handle the traditional hammer and hardie to cut and shape tiny glinting squares of glass, called tessera, that they extract from larger sheets shelved in the library. They then learn to meld these squares into beautiful compositions, just as some of the world's most celebrated mosaic artists have done through the ages. Mosaics in the Trocadro and the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur, both in Paris, were created with Orsoni materials, as were those in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London. Antoni Gaudi chose Orsoni smalti for the spires of his Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Adjacent to the foundry is Domus Orsoni where students stay while attending the three-, five- and ten-day courses that take place throughout the year except in August. Five- and ten-day class participants can earn 3.2 CEU's of accreditation from the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers), IIDA (International Interior Design Association), IDEC (Interior Design Educators Council) and IDC (Interior Designers of Canada), while three-day workshop attendees are not eligible for credits. Visit www.orsoni.com for a schedule and information or call +39 041 2440002 (in the U.S. 415-383-1399).

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