Corinna B July 5, 2018

Venice Day Trips ~ Why You Need To Go To Torcello

Have you been to Venice recently? Are you planning a trip to Venice? Maybe you’re just interested in the most unique city in the world? There is so much to see and do in Venice, and amongst all the options available to you are some trips to the outer islands.

Everyone hears about buzzing out to Murano and Burano, but fewer seem to make their way to Torcello. One of my Glam Italia tours this summer had several days in Venice, and Torcello was on the schedule. I was amazed at how many people tried to talk me out of taking people to this more remote island. I hadn’t been for a few years, but remembered it as being special, so thankfully I didn’t listen. In case you are hearing some of the same, I want to make sure you add Torcello to your list of must sees.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to get my free Top 10 Secret Places In Venice PDF!

The Story Of Torcello

Torcello was the first of the lagoon islands to be inhabited. After the fall of the Roman Empire the Veneti fled the mainland for the safety of the island, escaping the recurring barbarian invasions, especially around 452 when Attila The Hun wrecked his path of destruction through the area.

Over the next 200 years the relative safety of the island lead to a recurring influx of refugees including the Bishop of Altino. Torcello became the official seat of the bishop in 638. The island’s importance as a trading center grew and by the 10^th century between 20,000 and 35,000 people lived there. 20,000 is the most commonly used number, but some archeologists are saying it was more likely around 3000.

The successive plagues of the middle ages devastated Venice’s population. The growing marshland around Torcello attracted malaria carrying mosquitos and traders stopped coming to the island. In 1689 the bishop’s seat moved to Murano, and by 1797 the population was down to 300. The current full time population is 10.

Things To See On Torcello

Torcello is quite small, with the main tourist attractions all centered in one area. From the vaporetto it’s an easy 10 minute walk along the canal past restaurants and bars into the heart of the tiny town.

Most of the palazzi, the parishes etc are all gone, the materials having been recycled into other buildings around Venice, but there is still one medieval palazzo surviving.

The Devil’s Bridge

As you walk in to town you pass the 15^th century Devil’s Bridge/Ponte del Diavolo. There are several legends attached to the bridge. One says it was named because the devil built it in just one night. Another says the devil waits there to steal the souls of 7 innocent children as payment for reuniting 2 lovers, a Venetian girl and a murdered Austrian soldier (who may have died at the hands of her family)

RELATED: My new book Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy is now available here on Amazon.com

The Museum Of Torcello

In the heart of town the Museum of Torcello (1887) has both medieval and modern works of art as well as archeological finds. Around the museum you will see statues, pieces of columns, and stone reliefs, backing onto a lovely vineyard.

Attila The Hun’s Chair

Also known as the Throne of Attila sits there too, but is actually thought to be the chair used by the bishops of Torcello, not the Hun.

Opposite the museum there are 2 churches.

The Church of Santa Fosca

This Greek-style church was built in the 11^th century to house the remains of 15 year old Fosca of Ravenna, martyred in the 3^rd century, and who’s bones lie under the alter.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

The basilica stands next to Fosca, and on its own in my opinion, is worth making the trip to Torcello. Originally built in 639 but rebuilt in 1008 Santa Maria Assunta is home to 11^th and 12^th century Byzantine mosaics that are just breathtaking. Newly restored and just ethereal when the light hits them, these mosaics are sensational.

The mosaics taking up most of the west wall at the entrance, are complex and majestic. The Crucifixion is at the top, above the high energy Harrowing of Hell, which in turn sits above the Last Judgement.

The series of The Damned, to the right of the doorway is quite fascinating all by itself. The bottom panel to the right of the door shows what happens to the envious, with worms coming out of the eye sockets of skulls. It must have been quite terrifying to people who couldn’t read, only knew life here in this place, and got all their information from the church.

At the opposite end of the church the main apse features the huge and famously beautiful mosaic of the standing Virgin Hodegetria alone against the gold background, above a register of saints. She really is majestic, and completely mesmerizing. I could sit there looking at her for hours.

How To Get There

Torcello is only a few minutes from Burano by vaporetto.

From Venice you can get the 12 Vaporetto at Fondamenta Nove. The 12 will take you to Murano, Torcello and Burano.

Bonus Information

I have made a free downloadable PDF with my Top 10 Secret Places in Venice. This has my favorite restaurants, places to go and things to do in Venice, all of which are super special and are far from the crazy crowds!

You can get your copy HERE

Corinna B June 30, 2017

Venice Looks To Address Overcrowding

The overcrowding in Venice drives me crazy.

Venice is the most unique city on earth. We’ve known forever that it has been sinking, so it would make sense to do everything possible to slow the process down, build up the lagoon, and keep the cruise ships out. The cruise ships, in my opinion, are the devil. They push the water level higher, then vomit out thousands of bodies who put undue weight on the bridges and walk ways.

Afar.com recently posted this story about how Venice plans to address overcrowding. I wish they would prohibit the cruise ships….

Venice Looks to Address Overcrowding

The city has taken measures to ease crowds and make locals’ lives a little easier.

MATT VILLANO

5.7.2017

With the 57th annual La Biennale art festival set to begin in Venice on May 13, the Italian city has rolled out a series of initiatives to address unsustainable tourism and overcrowding at top attractions.

The new initiatives include people counters at some of the city’s most popular spots and a website that tracks wait times at various locations. The city also plans to produce and distribute new maps that spotlight lesser-known attractions—in an attempt to encourage visitors to fan out from established tourist centers.

Most of the initiatives went into place this month.

Specifically, Venice now will monitor the number of visitors at sites around the main tourist zones, including Piazza San Marco, Doge’s Palace, the Ponte degli Scalzi, the Ponte di Calatrava, and the three old stone bridges crossing the Rio Nuovo.

A story on The Local, a popular local blog, said that while there will be no specific cap on visitor numbers to start, the figures will be shared in real time through the city’s website and social media.

That same article said the city’s transport ticket will be updated to cover the whole metropolitan area, and the new maps will pinpoint facilities such as picnic areas and public restrooms to deter tourists from using monuments for such purposes.

Additional stories on the new policies suggested still other changes.

One, from the Independent, a U.K. newspaper, cited reports from local Italian-language newspapers that indicated the city soon may charge admission to Piazza San Marco.

Another, from HuffPost UK, hinted that officials also reportedly are mulling limits on the number of new hotels and accommodations, starting with a serious crackdown on apartment shares and vacation rentals through services such as Airbnb.

Read 15 Things You Need To Do In Venice here

The push for European cities to manage overcrowding and tourism growth is nothing new. Travel Weekly reported on the issue at the beginning of the year. Last month, Barcelona enacted new restrictions on apartment shares and other tourist accommodations and promulgated a plan to more evenly distribute tourist crowds around the city.

In Venice, Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has spoken publicly since his election in 2015 about “cracking down on the tourism industry” and said last week that the new measures were designed to make tourist flows “compatible with the everyday lives of residents.”

Brugnaro’s crusade began formally last April, when the city introduced a locals-first boarding policy for water buses and launched a separate queue for tourists.

Last summer, Venice was plastered with fliers that said, essentially, “Tourists go away!”

The takeaway: Keep exploring, but be respectful. Places like Venice are one of a kind. The only way to keep them that way is to follow the rules.

Corinna B June 26, 2016

Traveler Beware – 3 Reasons To Avoid London Heathrow Airport

I just got back from a month in Italy leading two more Glam Italia Tours. They were amazing! It is so incredibly gratifying and exciting to see the look on ladies’ faces as they discover Italy for the first time, and to be part of these fantastic memories that they will have forever.

From the Glam Italia Tour 2016

But let’s talk about Heathrow.
Since I left London a lifetime ago I have steadfastly avoided using Heathrow airport. (Much as I will do anything to avoid Chicago O’Hare, where you are basically guaranteed your flight will be delayed)
Back in the day London Heathrow was always an absolute zoo, and with so many other airport options available I’ve always taken a more palatable option. On this most recent trip I broke my own travel rule and allowed myself to be routed through Heathrow. Never again!

Three Reasons To Avoid London Heathrow Airport

1. They Were Ridiculously Short Staffed.

I flew to London from Rome, arriving late in the evening. Terminal 5, the British Airways terminal had a total of 3 people working passport control.
Three! If ours was the only plane arriving, that would have been bad enough, but there were other planes arriving too, each dumping hundreds of passengers, so the wait was excessive. Personally I got through in about an hour an 15 minutes, but other passengers were in line over 2 hours. This could be disastrous for anyone connecting to another flight.
I had to catch a bus (in the pouring rain) to Terminal 4 and just made the last bus of the night by the skin of my teeth.

2. Of the 3 passport control workers, 2 were sick.

They had the nastiest, meatiest, lung curdling coughs you have ever heard in your life, and rather than cough into tissues or into the crook of their elbows, they hacked up their lungs into their open hands. And then without so much as batting an eyelid used the same hands to pick up each passenger’s passport.
I would have been grossed out if they were using disinfecting wipes or hand sanitizer after rustling up fluids from the bottom of their lungs, but watching them attach their cooties to each person’s passport was just revolting. I wonder how many hundreds of people they exposed to their germs?

3. Incredibly Small Allowance At Security

At the security x-ray leaving Heathrow they gave out zip lock bags slightly larger than an American Zip Lock sandwich sized bag, for all your liquids and creams. Each passenger was allowed one bag only and it had to zip closed.
I fly internationally multiple times per year, round and round the world. I take the exact same travel beauty products on every flight, packed in the exact same see through travel cosmetic bags. All the airports that I fly in and out of have the same rules, except for Heathrow.
The security people at Heathrow Terminal 5 threw so many expensive products in the trash – it was unbelievable! I am all for keeping travelers safe, and I do appreciate that they don’t consider our shoes to be a threat and as such let us keep them on, but seriously I do not see the merit in confiscating travel sized skin care products (all of my beautiful Tatcha products!), a MAC Paint Pot, Chanel lipstick, mascara (just how much damage can a girl cause with a tube of DiorShow Blackout???) cream blush, a half tube of Makeup Forever Lift Concealer, a travel sized (1.6 oz) Oribe Cote d’Azur Hair Refresher, travel sized toothpaste (although one glance at their manky grills and you can see that British teeth and toothpaste don’t necessarily go together). I can’t remember what else they took, but it really was ridiculous.

The way I see it, if there really truly is a safety threat in a carry on bag that contains more than a sandwich sized plastic bag of beauty products, why not just tell your unsuspecting fliers at check in when we still have the option of throwing them in our suitcases?
The poor lady who went through security ahead of me was in tears as her beauty products were thrown in the trash.

I do appreciate that the Brits are the best at counter terrorism and that they confiscated my eye cream as a means of keeping the plane in the air. I want all planes to stay in the air and therefore happily comply with every rule, but in the future I will avoid Heathrow like the plague that it’s passport control workers want to spread, and maybe get to keep my travel sized toothpaste while I’m at it.