Thursday, September 11th, 2025
This morning as we walked down the steps to the restaurant we passed one of the sitting rooms and discovered an exhibition of glass birds. We stopped to admire them and found out that in a few days the Venice Glass Week would begin. It’s held in September and this was the 9th edition of this international festival. The glass week was established to promote the art of glassmaking. It attracted 165,000 visitors and was held in 130 venues around Venice, Murano, and Mestre.
In our hotel was the exhibition of Anna Paola Cibin called “From Glass to Silk”. It would display her tapestries and her Funny Birds glass sculptures. Only the Funny Birds had been displayed so far.
After breakfast we walked from our hotel to the Grand Canal to catch a ferry to visit the island Torcello.
Torcello had a population of about 10 permanent residents. It was one of the earliest settlements in the Venetian lagoon and was first settled in 452 AD. When we arrived to Torcello we followed the walking path into the historic center.
We passed the Devil’s Bridge (Ponte del Diavolo). It was a 15th century stone footbridge with no railings and it crossed over the island’s many canals. It was restored in 2009.
The bridge’s name came from a local legend. There were variations but basically a young girl from Venice fell in love with an Austrian soldier during the Austrian occupation in Venice. Her parents didn’t approve so they sent the girl from Venice. She heard news that her soldier had been murdered. She was lost in despair and a family friend told her to go visit a witch he knew who could help her. The witch was happy to help her and she made a pact with the devil. The witch was to get the devil 7 souls of 7 Christian children who died prematurely for the Austrian’s life! They agreed to meet at the Devil’s Bridge on Torcello Island. Long story short, the girl met her love and the witch died so the devil never got any children’s souls!
The Byzantine cathedral of Santa Maria dell Assunta was built in 639 AD. It was the oldest surviving building in the Venetian lagoon.
The Campanile or bell tower that belonged to the Cathedral of Santa Maria dell Assunta was built in 1008. It was free-standing, square bell tower that stood 180 feet. The bells, from the 15th century, were still used today.
Ernest Hemingway lived on Torcello in 1948 to write and hunt birds. He was in Venice but wanted to leave its party scene. It was said that he climbed the bell tower with his binoculars to look around the island and to figure out where he would live next.
The Church of Santa Fosca was located next to the cathedral. It was built in the 12th century.
The church was domed with a portico that was built on a Greek cross plan. It had marble Greek style Corinthian columns that supported the slanting wood roof.
The Museo Provinciale di Torcello (museum) had archaeological artifacts and medieval art. It was in the original Council Chamber and Archives called the Palazzo del Consiglio (14th century).
Unfortunately it was closed the day we were there but we did explore all of the artifacts outside the building. The museum and the outside display were not all from the island of Torcello. Some items were donated.
There also was an ancient stone chair, known as Attila’s Throne. It was more likely the podestà’s (the highest civil office holder) or bishop’s chair/seat where these magistrates were inaugurated.
After our exploration of the island we took the ferry back to Venice. We decided to go up to the solarium of our hotel and drink our last bottle of Verona wine!
It was such a good evening we stayed up there and watched the sunset over Venice!
It was another great day in Italy.
