Along with our trip to Venice that, now, I can see why it's recommended as one of the places on this globe that should be visited at least once by every human alive, we managed to expand our experience and even make it on some of the nearby islands surrounding it.
I've mentioned before that Torcello is along the most underrated islands surrounding Venice and that very few people who make it on whether Burano or Murano actually continue their journey to this place too. Which is kind of sad.
However, speaking of an almost forgotten island that barely has 10 locals left, I can understand their reluctance especially if we are speaking of the category of tourists who only make it to the most popular (and also, most crowded) points of interest from each country.
Either way, both I and my family are used with abandoned locations or, let's say, less popular points of interest especially since we used to do it for a long while now in our homecountry, Romania.
I'd lie saying that I feel at least as comfortable as I feel when doing this in my country because it's obvious to feel some shivers going down the spine when you don't have full access to information or know the native language of that place, but we really wanted to visit Torcello, and we did.
Every time I wrote a blog post about Torcello in the past, I kept mentioning that it's a destination that you should opt only if you want to feel the experience on your skin, where every place you will discover will represent genuine parts of history that are still resisting in the 21st century.
I'm saying these, because I don't want to create the false impression of having a hidden island filled with must-sees.
Actually, Torcello Island comes with very few places you can see, and which are mostly ruins or abandoned places that you can only observe from the outside.
However, today's post is about the last place we visited before making our way to the waterbus, and you can see other places we've seen while on Torcello at the bottom of this post.
I've left this article as the last experience we had on this island because it also represents, perhaps, the most valuable part of the island.
Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta dates since the 7th century and it represents the older 'survivor' of the island its structure being amongst the most powerful ones created back then.
This one was raised by Isaac (exarch of Ravenna in 639) following a rectangular shape, but got a little upgrade by bishop Adeodato II almost 200 years later, adding the porch before the facade, two smaller side apses, and the crypt beneath the presbytery.
Two hundred more years later, the church got its final upgrade from bishop Orso Orseolo who asked to have a higher central nave, add a fourth aisle on the north end of the church, make the floor higher as well, and also build the present square campanile, all of these being pretty much present in the 21st century too.
Even if the basilica seems imposing enough just from the outside, the renovations and decorations are not missing on the inside either, but sadly we were not able to visit it during our trip which most likely was because of travelling off-season.
The church, just like the museum nearby, are opened for just 2-3 hours some days per year by the locals, and that's why it's really a rare thing to actually get to explore it entirely, but thanks to the internet, there are plenty of images on there to make yourself an idea of how it looks even if it's not the same as you would feel if seeing everything with your own eyes.
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Click on the images to see them in full resolution
The name of the church comes from the icon stand of Santa Maria Assunta which is a remnant of the art influences borrowed from the eastern Europe Empire of Byzantium, yet an architecture style that is quite present in Italy.
The fountain placed right in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta was known as Fountain of Life and it was supposed to be remembered as a place from where you could drink potable water but also bring to yourself the symbol of eternal life.
However, even if this place only lives through its stories and moments as part of history, I still feel like being one of the ruins that you can really spend a good amount of time walking around it and still not get bored of the scenery. Something here, along with all the other places I've seen while being on Torcello Island, creates an energy apart that I haven't felt anywhere else during my trips.
Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta is located on Torcello Island which is 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
- Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
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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[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 45.49837 lat 12.41899 long A church that shares moments of history through its own presence, without being needed any words for it d3scr))