Editing Torcello (section)

==History==
After the downfall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], Torcello was one of the first lagoon islands to be successively populated by those [[Adriatic Veneti|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.<ref name=lane>{{Citation
    |publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
    |isbn = 0801814456
    |location = Baltimore
    |title = Venice, a maritime republic
    |author = Frederic Chapin Lane
    |date = 1973
    }}</ref> Although the hard-fought [[Veneto]] region formally belonged to the Byzantine [[Exarchate of Ravenna]] since the end of the [[Gothic War (6th century)|Gothic War]], it remained unsafe on account of frequent Gothic (Sarmatian) 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 seat for more than a thousand years and the people of Altinum brought with them the [[relic]]s of [[Heliodorus of Altino|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.

Torcello rapidly grew in importance as a political and trading centre: in the 10th century it had a population often estimated at 10,000–35,000 people, with 20,000 the most commonly cited estimate.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNs3BQAAQBAJ&q=peak+population++&pg=PT4010 | title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia| isbn=9781135948795| last1=Kleinhenz| first1=Christopher| date=2004-08-02}}</ref> However, some recent estimates by archeologists place it at closer to a maximum of 3,000.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Calaon|first1=Diego|title=Quando Torcello era abitata|date=2013|publisher=Regione del Veneto|oclc=883623826|page=73|url=https://www.academia.edu/7886889}}</ref> In pre-Medieval times, Torcello was a much more powerful trading center than [[Venice]].<ref name=norwich>{{cite book|last1=Norwich|first1=John Julius|title=A History of Venice|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofvenice00norw|url-access=limited|date=1982|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=0679721975|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofvenice00norw/page/672 672]}}</ref> Thanks to the lagoon’s salt marshes, the salines became Torcello’s economic backbone and its harbour developed quickly into an important re-export market in the profitable east-west-trade, which was largely controlled by Byzantium during that period.<ref name=lane />

The [[Black Death]] devastated the [[Venetian Republic]] in 1348 and again between 1575 and 1577.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bernstein |first=William J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePiReZWp0NwC |title=A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World |date=2009-05-14 |publisher=Grove/Atlantic, Inc. |isbn=978-1-55584-843-9 |pages=143 |language=en}}</ref> In three years, the [[plague (disease)|plague]] killed some 50,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |author=State of Texas, Texas Department of State Health Services |url=http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/preparedness/bt_public_history_plague.shtm |title=History of Plague |publisher=Dshs.state.tx.us |access-date=28 March 2009 |archive-date=11 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411041422/http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/preparedness/bt_public_history_plague.shtm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1630, the [[Italian plague of 1629–31]] killed a third of Venice's 150,000 citizens.<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fQxAkrbksTEC&pg=PA41 Medicine and society in early modern Europe]''". Mary Lindemann (1999). [[Cambridge University Press]]. p.41. {{ISBN|0-521-42354-6}}</ref> A further serious issue for Torcello specifically was that the swamp area of the lagoon around the island increased by the 14th century, partly because of the lowering of the land level.<ref name="books.google.ca">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zeongbkpoCwC&q=torcello++abandoned&pg=PA16 |page=16|title=Venetian Vernacular Architecture: Traditional Housing in the Venetian Lagoon |isbn=9780521154901 |last1=Goy |first1=Richard J. |date=14 April 2011 }}</ref> Navigation in the ''laguna morta'' (dead lagoon) was impossible before long and traders ceased calling at the island.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vcRWAAAAYAAJ&q=torcello+dead+lagoon |page=103|title=Venice; a Guide to the City of the Lagoon |last1=Alfieri |first1=Bruno |year=1950 }}</ref> The growing swamps also seriously aggravated [[malaria]].

As a result, by the late 14th century, a substantial number of people left for the islands of [[Murano]], [[Burano]], or [[Rialto]]  (modern-day Venice).<ref name=lane /><ref name="books.google.ca"/> In 1689, the bishopric transferred to Murano, and by 1797, the population had dropped to about 300.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&dq=torcello+++gradually+abandoned&pg=PT1116 |page=1086|title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia |isbn=9781135948801 |last1=Kleinhenz |first1=Christopher |date=2 August 2004 }}</ref> It now has a full-time population of just 10 people, including the parish priest, according to some sources,<ref name=dieci /> and only 12 in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rogers|first=Patrick|date=2018-03-12|title=Exploring Venice's Exclusive Private Islands|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a19179204/venice-italy-private-islands-lagoon/|access-date=2020-10-15|website=Town & Country|language=en-US}}</ref>