Torcello
View of Torcello
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 Torcello
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| Geography | |
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| Coordinates | 45°29′52″N 12°25′07″E / 45.497902°N 12.418583°ECoordinates: 45°29′52″N 12°25′07″E / 45.497902°N 12.418583°E |
| Adjacent bodies of water | Venetian Lagoon |
| Administration | |
| Region | Veneto |
| Province | Province of Venice |
Torcello (Latin: Torcellum; Venetian: Torceło) is a sparsely populatedisland at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon, in north-eastern Italy. It is the oldest continuously populated region of Venice, and once held the largest population of the Republic of Venice.
After the downfall of the Western Roman Empire, Torcello was one of the first lagoon islands to be successively populated by those Veneti who fled the terra ferma (mainland) to take shelter from the recurring barbarian invasions, especially after Attila the Hun had destroyed the city of Altinum and all of the surrounding settlements in 452. Although the hard-fought Veneto region formally belonged to the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna since the end of the Gothic War, it remained unsafe on account of frequent Germanic invasions and wars: during the following 200 years the Lombards and the Franks fuelled a permanent influx of sophisticated urban refugees to the island’s relative safety, including the Bishop of Altino himself. In 638, Torcello became the bishop’s official see for more than a thousand years and the people of Altinum brought with them the relics of Saint Heliodorus, now the patron saint of the island.
Torcello benefited from and maintained close cultural and trading ties with Constantinople: however, being a rather distant outpost of the Eastern Roman Empire, it could establish de facto autonomy from the eastern capital.
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Wikipedia