John Ruskin once described Torcello as “the mother of Venice.” Today, visitors to the tiny island might find that hard to believe. For Torcello — which lies in the Northern Venetian lagoon not far from the island of Burano, famous for its lacemaking — is sparsely populated; its sandy, swampy shores home to more wildlife than people.

Yet Torcello was the first island in the Venetian lagoon to be inhabited in the fifth century AD. As the island prospered and became wealthy from trade, an opulent city grew up at its centre, complete with palaces and churches to rival those of Venice itself. All that remains today of this once great city is a solitary plaza surrounded by some of the Venetian lagoons’ oldest buildings.   

So what caused Torcello to decline while Venice prospered? And what are the hazards that face her today?

The First Settlement in the Venetian Lagoon

Archaeologists have found evidence of glassmaking on Torcello dating from Roman times. However, it was not until the fifth century AD that the island was settled. By this time, the Goths and Vandals were harassing the coastal cities of the northern Italian mainland with increasing incursions. So Roman cities such as Altinium began to look for suitable spots to relocate their entire population.

According to legend, a voice from heaven told Bishop Paul of Altinium to climb to the top of a nearby tower in the city. There, he was to follow the reflected path of the stars in the lagoon. This celestial pathway would lead him to the refuge of his flock. 

The stars led him to the island that became known as Torcello, named after the “little tower” that the bishop climbed.   

A Rival to Venice

The new settlement on Torcello prospered. The nearby marshes were the source of a valuable commodity: salt, which the citizens of the new city began to extract and sell. The island’s position, close to the margins of the Adriatic Sea, also made it ideally situated for trade. Soon, Torcello was buying and selling with the eastern Byzantine Roman Empire.

The island grew wealthy. Between the seventh and tenth centuries AD, it divided itself into twelve parishes, each with its own churches, palazzos and palaces.  

Some of the city was constructed from stone rescued from the abandoned Roman cities on the mainland; others were built from fresh materials purchased with Torcello’s newfound wealth. The resulting city was reputedly as beautiful and elaborate as Venice is today. 

Today, all that remains of Torcello’s’ heyday is one small palazzo, a 10-minute stroll along Torcello’s Maggiore Canal from the ferry dock on the main lagoon. Here, the remains of the island’s cathedral, council chamber and the church of Santa Fosca, and an assortment of other curious features can be found.  

 The Cathedral of Santa Maria dell Assunta

Built in 639 AD, the byzantine cathedral of Santa Maria dell Assunta is the oldest surviving building in the Venetian lagoon. It was constructed from materials reclaimed from the mainland. Its baptistery lies in ruins, but the basilica and campanile, rebuilt in 1008 AD, are intact and open to the public. 

The eleventh-century basilica preserves many of the features of the original church. The pulpit, for instance, is constructed from salvaged marble fragments from the original building. Below the basilica’s altar is a crypt where you can see the original brick walls of the cathedral. This crypt also contains another relic of the past: a Roman sarcophagus said to contain the remains of St Heliodorus. 

St Heliodorus was made the first bishop of Altinum in the fourth century. Legend tells that when he retired from the bishopric, Heliodorus chose to retire to an island in the lagoon where he lived as a hermit. When he died, his remains returned to Altinum. When the citizen’s abandoned the city for Torcello, they brought St Heliodorus with them.

The basilica is home to some beautiful pieces of medieval art, such as the Byzantine rood screen, whose marble panels are carved with lions and flowers and two peacocks drinking from the fountain of life. However, the basilica’s chief wonders are its luminous twelfth-century mosaics. 

The Doomsday Mosaic

The mosaics of Santa Maria dell Assunta are stunning in their artistry and effect. The scenes they portray are depicted in jewel-like colours set against a gold background that illuminates the figures and the cathedral itself. 

The apse is decorated with a striking image of the Madonna and child. However, the cathedral is most famous for its mosaic depicting the Last Judgement, the so-called Doomsday mosaic, which covers the whole west wall.   

 Church of Santa Fosca  

Next door to the cathedral is the small twelfth-century church of Santa Fosca, a domed church and portico built on a Greek cross plan. Although not as dramatic as the neighbouring cathedral, its plain interior is beautiful in its simplicity. Marble Greek-style Corinthian columns support the slanting wooden roof of the interior while a cool, calming portico runs about its outside. 

The church once housed the remains of the Libyan saint, Fosca. Saint Fosca was a native of Sabratha and lived in the second or third century AD. Martyred with her nurse, Maura, for their Christianity, the women’s remains stayed in Libya until the Arabic invasions, when they were rescued and brought to Torcello by a sailor named Vitale. The bones of Fosca and Maura now reside in the Church of Santa Maria di Lourdes in Milan, one of the many relics to leave Torcello after its decline.  

Council Chamber and Archives and the Throne of Attila

Torcello’s centre of government can be found on the left of the square. Dating to the fifth century AD, the council chamber and archive building survive and are amongst the earliest remains on the island. Today, they act as a small museum displaying many of the archaeological relics found on the island.

One of those relics lies outside the museum; a curious marble chair known as the throne of Attila. As the name suggests, the chair gathered a reputation across the years as the seat of authority of the king of the Huns. However, the “throne” is probably just one of the remaining council chamber chairs used by Torcello’s officials. This legend is just one of many that have grown up around structures on the largely deserted island.

The Devils Bridge

Another legend is connected to the bridge that crosses the Maggiore Canal, known as the Ponte del Diavolo or the devil’s bridge. Built in the fifteenth century, on thirteenth-century foundations, there is a curious legend surrounding the bridge’s construction- and its lack of sides. 

The story begins with a young Venetian girl who fell in love with a soldier after the Austrians invaded Venice. The girl’s family, furious about the girl’s choice of suitor, banished her, and while she was away, she heard that her lover had been murdered. 

 The distraught girl returned to Venice and soon afterwards met with a witch who promised the girl she could bring her Austrian lover back to life- if she entered into a pact with the devil. The girl was to present Satan with the souls of seven Christian children — on the devil’s bridge in Torcello.

The girl agreed and travelled to Torcello with the witch. At the island, she crossed the bridge with a candle in one hand and a gold coin in the other while the witch raised the devil. Sure enough, the devil appeared. He spat the key to eternity into the water of the canal and the Austrian soldier appeared on the opposite end of the bridge to the girl. To fulfil the pact, the girl and the witch were to deliver the souls of the seven children on Christmas Eve. However, a young man discovered their scheme. To save the children, he killed the witch and every Christmas, the devil appears on the bridge, waiting in vain for his final payment.

It’s a picturesque tale. However, the bridge probably derives its name from a corruption of the name of a local family, the Diavoli. 

Life in early Torcello

In October 2018, details began to emerge about life for some of the early inhabitants of Torcello when archaeologists from Ca’Foscari University, Venice, began to excavate the area between the cathedral and Torcello’s residential area near one of the lagoon canals. Amongst their finds was the tomb of a young adult dating to 700AD — one of the earliest known burials on Torcello.  

More significantly, however, details began to emerge of how in the eighth century, Torcello’s population exploded. Excavators found the remains of densely packed wooden houses, docks, hundreds of ceramic fragments and evidence of industry, including several warehouses built from recycled Roman bricks. Some of these structures dated back to the sixth century, demonstrating Torcello was trading right from its initial occupation. 

 Torcello’s Decline

As these recent excavations show, Torcello’s canals were critical to its ascent and wealth. They were, however, the reason for the island’s fall. For these crucial arteries that connected the Torcello to the rest of the lagoon began to silt up as the residue of mainland rivers such as the Po started to build up in the lagoon. As a result, Torcello’s canals could not accommodate boats of any size. As a result, trade faded and shifted to Venice.

The now shallow waters of these canals now became the perfect breeding spot for mosquitoes. A devastating outbreak of malaria followed. For the survivors, this was the last straw. They abandoned Torcello for Venice. As their ancestors before them had done, they dismantled many of the buildings of their abandoned home, taking the materials with them. 

Torcello Today

Today, the Maggiore Canal aside, most of Torcello’s waterways remained silted up. Archaeologists have estimated that the island was home to 20,000 people at its peak. Now, there are less than a dozen permanent residents. 

Most of these remaining locals are occupied with the island’s sole business: tourism. However, it is not only the remains of Torcello’s past that attract visitors. For the island is home to one of the Venetian lagoon’s most prestigious hotels and restaurants:  Locanda Cipriani. Since it opened in 1935, the Locanda has played host to many of the rich and famous, such as Ernest Hemmingway, drawn by Torcello’s tranquillity — and the Locanda’s reputation for excellent local cuisine. 

Torcello Under Threat

However, what little remains of Torcello’s glorious past remains under threat today. The structures of the buildings, as well as the cathedral’s famous mosaics, are in danger of damage from groundwater, humidity and soluble salts in the lagoon waters. Fortunately, work by the World Monument Fund has halted the damage, ensuring that something of the mother of Venice remains.

Resources

John Julius Norwich. A History of Venice. (2007). The Folio Society.

World Monuments Fund. Santa Maria Assunta. (2013). Accessed September 15, 2013.

Torcello, Isoladi Burano.it. 

The Legend of the Devil’s Bridge on Torcello island, Venezia.net.

Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia. “Eighth-century skeleton found at Torcello.” ScienceDaily, October 1 2018.