On Halloween, those of us not traveling to London rose early (for a Saturday) and headed off to the Laguna Nord (North Lagoon) to visit some of the more remote Venetian islands. Murano is fairly well known, thanks to its glass factories, but less well known are the islands beyond, Burano, Mazzorbo, and Torcello.
(Google Maps)
Burano is home to several tourist shops, mixing lace- the local speciality- with the usual glass, opera masks, and assorted trinkets, but overall the streets are residential and quiet. Burano is less crowded and generally feels more open than the main island. The colorful buildings make it seem almost tropical, fanciful and very welcoming. Mazzorbo is much the same. It's connected to Burano by a bridge, but in the interest of time we limited ourselves to taking pictures from the vaporetto. As much as Burano felt was different from the main island, Torcello was like another place altogether. We arrived by vaporetto with a rush of other tourists, and headed along a red brick path to the one real attraction on the island - La Chiesa de Santa Maria Assunta. It felt like a pilgramage, walking through a swamp to reach the cathedral. On the way, we passed a small hotel, two restaurants, and two souvenir kiosks. In all, I counted only four non-tourists on the island. According to link although Torcello was once a thriving port, with a population of 50,000 at its height, but today it's mostly marshland and only twenty-two people live there. Aside from the church and museum, the only attractions were the Ponte del Diavolo (devil's bridge), some ruins and a big marble chair, and several cats. On the way to Burano, we passed some deserted islands, home only to ruins. Considering how crowded and busy other parts of Venice are, that seemed very strange to me, so I decided to consult the internet and see what I could learn about them. Instead, my search for "abandoned islands Venice" yielded information about Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto, Lazzaretto Nuovo, Le Vignole, San Lazzaro, and San Michele. Aside from San Michele, the cemetery island, all of these islands are inhabited, and San Michele is hardly abandoned; when we visited, there was a guard on duty and all of the graves were decorated with fresh flowers. San Francesco del Deserto is so named because it was once deserted, but it is no longer. I don't think the websites I found were trying to be deliberately misleading; they were just for people searching for something else. Instead of ruins, they are trying to offer an "authentic" Venice, a getaway from the bustle of the highly touristic areas. If Venice is like Disneyland, the outlying islands are like the resorts nearby.
(Google Maps)
As much as Burano felt was different from the main island, Torcello was like another place altogether. We arrived by vaporetto with a rush of other tourists, and headed along a red brick path to the one real attraction on the island - La Chiesa de Santa Maria Assunta. It felt like a pilgramage, walking through a swamp to reach the cathedral. On the way, we passed a small hotel, two restaurants, and two souvenir kiosks. In all, I counted only four non-tourists on the island. According to link although Torcello was once a thriving port, with a population of 50,000 at its height, but today it's mostly marshland and only twenty-two people live there. Aside from the church and museum, the only attractions were the Ponte del Diavolo (devil's bridge), some ruins and a big marble chair, and several cats.
On the way to Burano, we passed some deserted islands, home only to ruins.
Considering how crowded and busy other parts of Venice are, that seemed very strange to me, so I decided to consult the internet and see what I could learn about them. Instead, my search for "abandoned islands Venice" yielded information about Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto, Lazzaretto Nuovo, Le Vignole, San Lazzaro, and San Michele. Aside from San Michele, the cemetery island, all of these islands are inhabited, and San Michele is hardly abandoned; when we visited, there was a guard on duty and all of the graves were decorated with fresh flowers. San Francesco del Deserto is so named because it was once deserted, but it is no longer. I don't think the websites I found were trying to be deliberately misleading; they were just for people searching for something else. Instead of ruins, they are trying to offer an "authentic" Venice, a getaway from the bustle of the highly touristic areas. If Venice is like Disneyland, the outlying islands are like the resorts nearby.
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