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The lagoon is known under the name of Torcello which is the northern such place of Venice (Italy), being located 8 km away from the famous city. Along with the architecture and history so unique for a place almost lost in time, there are still things that made the island so unique in front of everything we've seen so far.
One of these is even the alley that walks you around, known as Strada della Rosina, which, funny or not, represents the single street there. It's true that the lagoon has fairly small dimensions and there is no point in having more streets since from here you can reach any part of Torcello, but I still found this information very interesting and necessary to be shared further.
Chasing the path you will see everything from the wilderness of nature to houses of the very few locals of the island, from restaurants which most likely are open only during the season to buildings that no matter how old they are, they still have a specific charm and energy which is always welcome.
Actually, all you've seen in the pictures from above are pretty much everything, there being just a few buildings that are standing still in 2023 while most of them turned into ruins and were abandoned by the locals who moved to Venice or in other places.
But along with all the buildings that represent a normality for those who are making their living on the island which is only supported by the money received from those visiting it, there are also a few proper tourist attractions that are worth a visit.
Ponte del Diavolo
The first such place is known as Ponte del Diavolo or "The Devil's Bridge" which I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
If you are visiting it on a sunny day as we did, where the whole landscape is covered in colors and shone under the sun's rays, it might seem like a fairly normal bridge for Venice, but the legends and stories that are still shared in the 21st century about this bridge might change your point of view.
When it comes to my home country (Romania), when I hear about buildings dating since the 15th century I think almost right away about fortresses and churches because these are the most genuine buildings which are still resisting in the 21st century.
However, in Torcello, things are a bit different because The Devil's Bridge is actually the one dating since the 15th century, which was raised on the remains of a different bridge that was a lot narrower.
With a name so suggestive that stirs a lot of curiosity, it would be weird not to have a story behind it, but happily (or not) there are quite a few legends that are dating for centuries and which, in one way or another, make you feel them whether you are in the category of those who think witches are real or in the category that says these are just legends.
The first such story which is also a fairly short one, is that the bridge was raised in a single night by the Devil itself to win a bet but didn't manage to finish all the details in time, like adding a barrier around it, due to the sun that was raising up on the sky.
Another story that seems closer to the reality of the 21st century, is that the name was given after an important family who was living on Torcello and whose name was Diavoli, and there was no barrier because that's how all the bridges were made a few centuries ago.
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Though, the actual legend that is mostly shared when people ask where the name of the bridge comes from, is that during the period when Venice was under Austrian domination, there was a girl who fell in love with an Austrian soldier. Even though there were quite a lot of eyes that looked at them as a negative example, the ones that were bothered the most were the parents of the girl who paid someone to kill the boy so the girl would get back to living a normal life the life they wanted her to live.
But as things rarely happen the way we all expect them to, the girl didn't return to the life she had before meeting the boy but actually became depressive, refused to eat, and remained isolated in her room for a long while.
After the girl was advised by a friend of hers to visit a witch, she ended up meeting one with the main purpose of bringing her lover back to life. The two used to meet more times on Ponte del Diavolo until the witch said that her request was not impossible but it came with the price of killing one newborn on Christmas Eve for 7 years in a row and always bring the dead body on the bridge that the witch will give further to the devil who will help her accomplish the request of the girl.
Being fairly desperate to meet her lover again, the girl accepted the offer but once the soldier was brought to life, they both ran away and left the witch alone on the bridge with the devil who asked her to respect the pact and bring the dead bodies of the newborns as discussed. However, what they didn't know, is that the whole conversation was heard by a local who set the house of the witch on fire and made her burn in flames before respecting her part of the pact made with the devil.
From all these, there are saying that each year on the 24th of December there is always a black cat sitting on Ponte del Diavolo who's the devil's messenger or even the devil himself, which is still waiting for the witch to return with the promised things.
Now I am aware that this legend feels a bit more real maybe perhaps that Halloween is around the corner and everyone is getting ready for this kind of spooky stories and all the costumes with witches, black cats, devils, and so on. But to be honest, I visited this bridge in November last year and I did feel a strange energy while being around it.
I'm not saying that any of the stories shared are real or not, but I did feel a different energy while being on this bridge which I didn't get to feel while walking around the rest of the island. But with so many things changing from one day to another, we will never be able to find out what actually happened in the same place centuries ago, right?
Ponte di Santa Maria
Just 2 more minutes of walking from Ponte del Diavolo, there is another bridge that you'll cross which even though is not as famous as the one mentioned before, it takes you to a place with an interesting history.
This one is called Ponte di Santa Maria and it takes you to a small square that in 2023 is mostly formed from a fountain and a building known as Locanda Cipriani that dates since 1935.
The historical place was handed down from generation to generation and that's how even almost 90 years later, it's still managed by the same Cipriani family.
What makes this place so unique? It represents the place where Ernest Hemingway was hosted for one month in the autumn of 1948 where he went duck hunting but also wrote the famous book "Across the River and into the Trees" on the cover of which he also used an image from this place.
Along with Hemingway, the small business has a long list of famous people who crossed their threshold and stayed there for a while, from kings and queens to princes and princesses, from composers and singers to actors and directors, from conductors and ambassadors to even state presidents.
In order to reach Torcello and discover these bridges along with a few other things to see within the island, you have to take a vaporetto which is a bus that goes on the water. There are also a few more islands that are worth a visit too and for which you also need to take a vaporetto, but the easiest way to do so is to get yourself a 24 hours long pass to visit everything and avoid the endless fear of not being able to get a new ticket.
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