Smalti tile, sometimes alluded to that, how the Byzantine glass inlaid tile, is ordinary opaque glass tiles which originally developed for the use in mosaics created during time of the Byzantine empire.

Smalti does deals molten glass with metallic oxides for a color; a result is cloudy mixture, which flows in flat plates which are frappes and broken in individual pieces. Molten mixture can also be covered with a gold sheet, completed thin glass film, to protect against casting shade. During the Byzantine era, Constantinople became the center of the inlaid handicraft, and the use of gold sheet glass mosaic attained possibly it is the greatest artistic expression in the former place of Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, Hagia Sofia.

Traditional smalti tiles still can be found today in many European churches and decorative objects; and this method is also extinguished by some modern artisans. In 1920, the methods of mass production were applied to Smalti tile manufacture which gave possibility these tiles to find their way in many houses of middle class. In place of old method of displacing of the coloured glass mixture and cutting, a new method called to the molten liquid which flows and cools down in trays, usually resulting in 3/4 one inch chicklet-type pieces.