Torcello

Lost in its solitude at the heart of the Lagoon, a ghostly presence on the flat horizon of water and marshlands, outlining its well-defined bell-tower with the cathedral looming alongside, Torcello island is beloved by all tourists for the strange spell it casts on its visitors. The island is delimited by the Burano canal to the south-west and borders on low marshals in the north and the east. To visit it, you first need to travel to Burano and there take another boat which makes the short journey across to Torcello. This silent island was once, nearly 1,500 years ago, a busy and important town larger than Venice. Those days are long gone as silt from rivers on the mainland filled up the shallow waters around the island, trade became more difficult and malarial mosquitoes bred. The 20,000 or so inhabitants gradually made their way to Venice or Murano, and today only a few dozen innkeepers and farmers live on the largely abandoned island. For centuries, it has been spoiled of its marbles and bricks that were used to build and decorate Venice. It remained an unhealthy and malarial swamp until the second half of the XVIII century when an intensive work of reclamation started in the Lagoon. Today we can still admire two architectural gems survived from its glorious ages: the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and the Church of Santa Fosca. Founded in the seventh century, today's cathedral mostly dates to an eleventh-century reconstruction. A section of the earlier mosaic floor can be viewed through a glass panel. On the walls and apse are some fantastic Byzantine mosaics, including an immense, vivid depiction of the Last Judgement on the reverse of the facade. Very particular are the large windows closed by marble panels. The extraordinary Cathedral, the movingly simple Church of Santa Fosca and a small edifice overlook the grassy square where there is an ancient marble seat known as Attila’s Throne, named after the king of the Huns that never sit on it. Note also the original “Ponte del Diavolo” (Devil’s Bridge) crossing the access canal, built according to tradition in a single night and one of the rare cases of bridge without balustrade remained in Venice. Certainly the contemplative charm and the intriguing “wild” atmosphere of the island are the main attractions for tourists tired for having so much walked in Venice!