Venice Glassmakers’ Ancient Art Shattered by Slump, Taxes

Daniele Mazzuccato’s life has become as fragile as the famed Murano chandeliers he makes.

The glassmaker has sold his apartment to keep his factory going and now sleeps in the back room of his foundry on the tiny island of Murano, a mile north of the Italian canal city of Venice. The 47-year-old, who comes from a family of glassmakers, says lack of credit, an economic slump and crisis-driven tax increases are killing the island’s centuries-old traditions.