What to see in Torcello, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, with the mosaic of the Last Judgment, the Devil's Bridge, Attila's throne and the Church of Santa Fosca.
Tourist information
Torcello is an island in the northern lagoon of Venice, located near Burano, surrounded by a fascinating natural environment, between sandbanks, which are particular tabular soils typical of lagoons, and islets populated by migratory birds and rich in native plant species .
The island can be easily reached by public transport starting from the docks of the Fondamenta Nuove, which overlook the Lagoon, in the north part of Venice.
Torcello was one of the oldest and most flourishing settlements in the lagoon, an important landing place and commercial exchange between the sea and the hinterland, already present since the 1st century AD.
The island of Torcello reached its peak in the tenth century, when it was inhabited by thousands of people, and Venice had not yet established itself as a power in the Mediterranean.
In the fifteenth century, in fact, due to multiple concomitant factors, a slow but inexorable decline began, marked by the abandonment of the island by its inhabitants.
The buildings were dismantled and used for new buildings in Venice, where the most flourishing trade took place and the air was healthier.
Torcello remained an unhealthy and malarial environment until the second half of the nineteenth century when reclamation works began in the lagoon.
Where today there are grassy meadows and silence reigns, there was the ancient city, of which few but significant architectures remain.
Along the Maggiore canal, the waterway that connects the small historic center of Torcello to the lagoon, about halfway along this walk, stands the Devil's Bridge, rebuilt in the fifteenth century on the foundations of an existing bridge.
What see
On the square of Torcello there is a marble throne known as the Throne of Attila, attributed to the famous King of the Huns, but probably belonging to the Bishop or to some tribune of the island.
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On the left side of the square stands the Council Palace and the Archives Palace, now home to the Torcello Museum, which preserves numerous archaeological finds found on the island, with two exhibition sections, Archaeological and Medieval Modern.
Also in this area are the Church of Santa Fosca and the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in 639 and rebuilt in its current form in 1008, at the behest of Bishop Orso, son of the doge Pietro Orseolo II and nephew of Pietro Orseolo the Saint .
The Basilica, which is accessed through the right side door, is an extraordinary example of the Venetian-Byzantine style, with an interior with three naves divided by eighteen Greek marble columns, with Corinthian capitals.
In the counter-façade stands out a remarkable mosaic depicting the universal judgment, with the hosts of souls dominated by the figure of Jesus inserted between Mary and John.
The bell tower is also from the same period.
Inside the Basilica you can admire important mosaics dating from the second half of the 11th century to the second half of the 12th century.
The Church of Santa Fosca built between the ninth and twelfth centuries is the oldest Venetian monument inspired by the Ravenna taste.
The Church, surrounded by a graceful portico, has a Greek cross plan, with three apses and with Greek marble columns surmounted by Byzantine capitals.
