Abstract We present some recent results obtained by our team in rare earth doped photonic glasses and confined structures, in order to give some highlights regarding the state of art in glass photonics. To evidence the unique properties of transparent glass ceramics we compare spectroscopic and structural properties between the parent glass and the glass ceramics. Starting from planar waveguides we move to spherical microresonators, a very interesting class of photonic confined structures. We also conclude the short review with some remarks about the perspective for glass photonics.