Along with all the excitement, joy, and good mood that I feel while travelling, there are also fewer joyful moments that not everyone gets to experience because these are usually met in locations that are not very popular with tourists.
And if you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I have a guilty pleasure crossing my feet over locations that are not very familiar to tourists or people in general, just because I can feel their true meaning, wilderness, but also get to taste the genuine experiences that brought it to its current shape.
This usually, happens a lot more often in my country being also easier to control everything and assume some risks, but if I get the chance to, then I'd definitely do it with the places I explore beyond the border of Romania.
Torcello is a name that was on my lips two years ago when I had my trip to Venice and its surroundings, but which, is hard to forget as it really saved a special spot in my heart.
I'd lie saying that this was the most solitary place I've met in my hundreds of trips taken here and there. But it surely came with an energy apart when finding out bits of its story, and how the past looked so much different from what we can see in the 21st century.
To start with the beginning, Torcello represents a tiny island located on the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon and on the northeastern side of Italy.
This one was settled in 452 BC, and back then was recognized as one of the main places that were about to populate Venice, which was formed a lot later than Torcello.
When I mentioned that this island has an energy apart, that could be felt way before finding out bits of its past, such as it served as an unknown shelter for many people who started a new life on this island after the downfall of the Western Roman Empire, to stay away from the recurring barbarian invasions.
Sooner or later this led to sending permanent people to stay on the island just to make sure the locals were safe, one of the big names behind all of these being the Bishop of Altino himself who turned the island into his forever home for the next dozens of years.
Torcello rapidly grew in importance as a political and trading centre where Constantinople was one of the main clients, speaking of an economy growing quickly and also a lot more people coming to these lands. There are rumours that the numbers grew from 10,000 people to over 35,000 in, literally, no time.
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Sadly, as good things don't last forever, after a long while and almost one thousand years that passed, The Black Death took everyone by surprise and in just 3 years it killed over 50,000 people from both Venice and the islands nearby, including Torcello.
As a result, by the late 14th century, a substantial number of people left the islands and either moved to Venice or to other parts of Italy, which turned all the way down the big numbers of locals of Torcello, to 10 people only.
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I'm not sure if those numbers are as shocking for you as they were for me, but thinking that a disease that no one knew about its existence could have the power to take down the entire economy and life created over hundreds of years in just a couple of months, does sound like the worst nightmare one can have.
I can't even imagine how is it to start everything all over again in a completely new place with no resources, no certain future or hopes anymore. All of this, only if you were lucky enough to make it out of the island alive.
This quickly reminds me of the disaster created by COVID-19 and how, even if the medicine is a lot more advanced now than it was centuries ago, no one really was prepared for all of that and it also took a long while to find a remedy for it. Just imagine if COVID-19 would cause a similar situation in more important cities around the world. Horror!
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Sadly, even from the first steps you'll make on the island, you will notice that these are not just some legends trying to make a place more interesting, but the cruel truth.
In fact, while Torcello was added on the routes with Murano and Burano that are so visited by the tourists, it still doesn't enjoy the same popularity having just very few of them continue the trip.
That can be also seen in the first picture where only around five people were in front of us, while there were close to one hundred on the stops to the other two islands.
This is a landscape that I'm not used to especially when travelling abroad because most of the tourists follow the same direction and where the crowd is, it only gets bigger. However, that was definitely not the case for Torcello.
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I'll put that thought on the excuse that our trip took place off-season and lie myself that Torcello is a lot more popular during the summer as tourism is, actually, the single source of income for all 10 people who are still living on the island.
In fact, along the single path you can follow on the island, you will notice a terrace, a small restaurant, and a temporary food truck, which each represents the small businesses of those who didn't give up in front of the challenges of life.
Sadly, all of them were closed during our trip, so spotting one of the locals was definitely a rare thing. I only got to see a man driving his boat on the way home, because there are no proper roads or cars in this place, everything being surrounded by water.
And speaking of locals' houses, I managed to snap two pictures of two of these which were looking absolutely amazing. Hats off to all the investments made there, considering the lack of sources of income and how uncertain life is, in general, for both Venice and the islands surrounding it, with the water increasing its flow yearly and being real studies made that all of these will be sooner or later forever gone in the waters.
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While travelling to Torcello is a lot more than tourist attractions but more of a whole vibe that can only be felt by those with an open heart, there are a couple of places considered points of interest for those passing by.
One of them is the Devil's Bridge (Ponte del Diavolo) which I have shown a bit earlier but about which I already wrote a whole article. This is to be met a few steps away from where the waterbus will stop.
Museo provinciale di Torcello, Church of Santa Fosca and Baptistery of San Giovanni Evangelista are the other points of interest where even if they can be discovered from the outside, I think it's worth to pay for a ticket and explore the inside too.
Sadly, these were also closed during our off-season trip, but I would have loved to enter any of them and feel like I contribute even with just a little for some of the locals who are still living on Torcello.
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One last place that I have discovered but about which I have no clue whether is a tourist attraction, a restaurant or simply a local's house, was this courtyard filled with lots of interesting statues that seemed like being at least a few centuries old.
Either way, I was happy to stay so close to them, take some pictures, and admire them.
Torcello is located just 8 km away from Venice and there are many waterbuses taking rides towards its direction. We got a 24-hour pass to use vaporetto which is a bus water that takes you to all the islands around Venice for a special price, which is totally worth it.
Other places I've seen during my trip to Torcello:
- Ponte del Diavolo (Devil's Bridge)
- Museo provinciale di Torcello
- The story of an almost forgotten island, Torcello
more coming soon...
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.
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