Barovier Ercole Murano 1889-1974 chandelier with five lights in glass rostrum. Barovier & Toso is an Italian company that specializes in Venetian glass. The company is one of the oldest family businesses in the world, founded in 1295 as simply Barovier. It is thought that the company originated in Treviso,[citation needed] but the company headquarters is currently based in the Palazzo Contarini in Murano, Italy. It was not until 1936, that the Barovier family merged with the Toso family's Fratelli Toso Glassworks, to form Barovier & Toso, specializing in crystalline glass, mother-of-pearl glass, and gold-free cornelian red glass.