Italy: All The Colors of The Rainbow in Burano And Some Peace and Quiet on Torcello

How do the Italians get away with it? They are so bold. So out there. So creative. So colorful and artsy.

Can you imagine painting your house Pepto-Bismol Pink, or  Kelly Green maybe Tomato Red, or a startling Lemon Yellow, or if you are the sedate conservative kind, Turqoise Blue?

What would your neighbors say? In Burano, they would say Bravo, and thanks for keeping with the status quo.

Burano is a beautiful place. The buildings are bright, bold and eye-catching. While it may not have the architectural interest of major Italian cities such as Rome or Bologna, or it’s sister island Venice, the colors are so compelling, it’s a happy, fun vibe walking through it’s neighborhoods.

It’s one of the Venetian Islands, so it is a canal island, and you reach it by boat, as we did, on the last day of our Italian tour.

There’s something about strolling along the canals, crossing over the quaint bridges, and exploring winding little alleys through residential areas here that is just so appealing. It was a welcome break after two weeks of non-stop touring through Northern Italy.

Burano’s a great place to just walk and shop and eat, which we did, and the crowds are much thinner than in Venice but slightly thicker than we experienced on Murano. And the pizza was very good, but it’s hard to find bad pizza in Italy.

 

We also toured the island of Torcello,  which is tiny, has only about seventeen full-time residents, a handful of restaurants and sidewalk vendors, and a man who stands on the sidewalk that leads from the boat wharf into the tiny town, playing his accordion for you. 

I absolutely lost myself in the quiet of this beautiful little island, which was at one time, quite surprisingly, an important center of trade and politics. It has a long history stretching back to the fifth century and was once more economically powerful than Venice. The Italian plague, malaria outbreaks and infiltration of swamp plants in it’s lagoons contributed to the islands demise.

There are remnants of Romanesque architecture scattered around the grounds and integrated into the buildings here.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Dell’ Assunta contains impressive Byzantine mosaics, but most of the opulent buildings that once graced Torcello were plundered to provide architectural elements for buildings on other islands.

 

These two islands along with Murano were a favorite part of this trip for me. They were quieter than the major tourist destinations we visited. I did not feel inundated by crowds or commercialism on any of them and yet there was the opportunity to eat, drink, shop or just chill and enjoy the visual feast that is the specialty of the incredible country of Italy.

©2018, All Text and Photography by Ilona Elliott

The Author (on the right)

• Posted in: Travel
• Tagged: Burano, Italy, Torcello, Travel, Venice