Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta

This guide to Torcello's Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta starts at the worn stone seat outside its doors, known as Attila's throne, and the refugees who fled here after the Hun king's armies burned the mainland city of Altinum in the year four fifty-two. You'll hear how the island grew into a thriving trading town of thousands around this seventh-century basilica, first raised in six thirty-nine and rebuilt in ten oh eight, and how the lagoon itself later turned against its people. Best heard while sitting at that worn stone seat outside the doors before you go in.