If you want to do something different on mid-August, we suggest a visit to Torcello where the Feast of the Assumption in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta takes place.
An occasion to remember the two hundred years since the suppression of the diocese of Torcello occurred on May 1, 1818 with the bull of Pope Pius VII De Salute Dominici Gregis, with which the ecclesiastical circumscriptions belonging once to the Serenissima Republic of Venice were reorganized. Founded in the early Middle Ages, the episcopate of Torcello extended from the island of San Michele di Murano to the whole northern lagoon of Venice up to the lagoon of Altino and then also of Jesolo and Eraclea. As a diocese, Torcello lived its period of maximum splendor in the 11th century with the reconstruction of the cathedral in the current architectural forms. Following the shift of commercial traffic to Venice, the unhealthiness of the air and finally the fall of Venice in 1797, as well as the Napoleonic decrees of suppression of religious orders of 1806 and 1810 that deprived the places even of that minimum of religious vitality remained, made the territory completely poor and abandoned. Consequence of the suppression was the unification of the Patriarchate of Venice.
We suggest a visit to the Museum of Torcello, that will be open from 10.30 am to 5.30 pm with free admission, whose Archaeological section hosts greek-romanan finds and artefacts. The Medieval and modern section records the history of the island and its relations with the area of Altino, the Byzantine culture and the city of Venice. Some mosaic works and the altar of the 13th cent. were brought from the Basilica and the paintings, attributed to the workshop of Veronese, from the ruined church of Sant’Antonio.
Discover the program of the day here, including the guided tour in the Basilica and in the Museum : “The Assunta and Torcello. On the occasion of the two hundred years from the Lagoon diocese suppression” (at 12.30 pm and 2:45 p.m), booking required by email: torcello.eventi@cittametropolitana.ve.it
From “DeTourism”