Venetian glass is composed out of soda and silica. The soda gives a "long" glass, which allows the glass-master to work and model it for longer periods of time. The glass mix is melt in big pots called “crogioli”, and there is one pot for each color.

Glass workers are usually organized in teams of four people: the maestro (master), his serventi (first assistants) and serventini (second assistants). For such a team to work successfully requires a tremendous amount of dexterity, co-ordination and strength.