Torcello, Venice, Veneto, Italy

Torcello, the island born before Venice, was the cradle of Venetian civilisation and one of the oldest and most prosperous settlements in the lagoon with a priceless archaeological heritage that is still preserved today... such as the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, the church of Santa Fosca, the Palazzo dell'Archivio and the Palazzo del Consiglio, once the seat of the Venetian government.
Along the Fondamenta dei Borgognoni in front of the Devil's Bridge (read the legend at the end...) is this beautiful old fisherman's house that a skilful restoration has brought back to its ancient beauty and has made possible an interesting division into a manor house and an annexe. The main house is accessed from the private garden and consists on the ground floor of a large living/dining room embellished by an original fireplace "alla valaisana" with an open kitchen; on the first floor there is a double bedroom and a bathroom with Jacuzzi. The dependance is accessed from the Fondamenta and comprises on the ground floor a living-dining room with kitchenette, on the first floor a study and a bedroom with a lovely terrace overlooking the garden and bathroom; on the second floor two double bedrooms, a twin bedroom and two bathrooms with shower. The property is perfectly restored both internally and externally. The windows are double glazed, the windows on the ground floor are carved love with solid wood panels, the floors of the ground floor are in '900 terracotta tiles while those of the upper floors are made of fir boards, gas heating with two independent boilers, double air conditioning system, and automatic irrigation system in the garden.
The property has a berth on the canal in front of the house.
The legend of the Devil's Bridge... in reality it looks like a simple Venetian-style bridge - flat, stepped and without a parapet - but for Torcello it is a monument with special significance and is linked to a macabre legend and mysterious apparitions. According to the legend, a young Torcello girl in love with an Austrian officer had to witness his murder by his family. Desperate, she asked for help from a sorceress who made a deal with the devil on her behalf: to get the dead boy back in exchange for taking away seven children's souls. But at the moment of the exchange, the girl and the young man managed to trick the devil and fled without giving him the children. Since then the devil appears from time to time on the bridge waiting for his debt to be paid.