The rainbow houses that were never about the photographs

I always assumed Burano's famously colourful houses were purely decorative, the sort of thing that exists because it photographs well and tourists like it. The real reason is far more practical, and honestly better.

The lagoon fog around Burano could get thick enough that fishermen rowing home in the evening couldn't pick out their own front door from the water. So families settled on a colour for their house and kept it, a bright, unmistakable landmark you could spot long before you could make out any actual architectural detail. It worked well enough that the tradition never died out, and today it's protected by local law. If you want to repaint your house on Burano, you have to submit your chosen colour to the authorities first and wait to hear whether it's allowed.

I painted the canal in watercolour and ink, all those mismatched, sun-faded colours in a row. There's a poster with a letter home and a postcard if you'd like one.

Shop the poster here: Burano, Venice · Travel Poster