Torcello is the quiet, sparsely populated island at the northern edge of the Venetian Lagoon that is often described as the “parent” or original settlement from which Venice grew.  First settled in the 5th century (traditionally 452 AD) by refugees from the mainland town of Altinum fleeing Attila the Hun, it predates the main city and once thrived as a commercial and ecclesiastical centre before declining as Venice itself rose.
 
Its cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta, founded in 639 AD, is the oldest standing church in the lagoon and effectively Venice’s first cathedral.
 
Interesting facts..
Although it originally had tens of thousands of inhabitants today only 10 people live on the island!
Between the 7th and 10th centuries it was richer and more powerful than early Venice, a key trading hub linked to Byzantium and the wider Mediterranean.
As its canals silted up, malaria spread, and trade routes shifted, residents literally dismantled their own palaces and churches brick by brick and shipped the materials to Rialto to help build the Venice we know.  Torcello thus became a kind of quarry for its rival, its former grandeur recycled into another city’s rise.
 
Location: Torcello, 30142 Venezia VE, Italy