A picturesque little bridge we missed...

Every Venetophile worth their salt knows there are more than four hundred bridges in Venice crisscrossing the city's labyrinth of scenic canals. Let me say that again: FOUR HUNDRED BRIDGES. Stone ones, brick ones, old ones, new ones. On the 100 Venice Bridges Challenge we visited, well, one hundred of them, so therefore there are more than three times as many bridges in La Serenissima that we 'missed'.

We'll leave the obvious question, 'When are you going to do the next three Bridge Challenges to cover the rest?' aside for the moment. I mean, we're still recovering from that little 1000 kilometer walk we did a while ago.

On the Challenge we did try to include the most scenic bridges in Venice. We were at the Rialto, the Calatrava, the Scalzi and the Accademia, the four bridges that span the Grand Canal. All the bridges had something or other that made them special.

But there is a bridge that springs to mind, that I'm rather sorry we didn't, or couldn't, include.

This bridge is located on the island of Torcello, a longish vaporetto ride away from Venice itself. This sleepy little island is where the story of Venice began, shortly after the fall of Rome. It has a well-restored cathedral dating from the year 639, which is its present claim to fame. But in pre-medieval times Torcello was a bustling trading port when Venice was still nothing more than a swampy mass. Gradually the harbour and surrounding areas silted up, and a malaria mosquito infestation and other factors gradually reduced the island's population of thousands to a dozen or so today.

Torcello is also known for the Ponte del Diavolo, or Devil's Bridge, one of only two Venetian bridges that don't have hand rails of any sort. During the Challenge we did pay a visit to the Ponte Chiodo, the other 'blank' bridge.

The Devil's bridge is well-restored, neat and tidy. There are few buildings on the banks of the canal it crosses, giving it a wonderfully pastoral ambience in a garden setting.

Perhaps, in general, it'll be good idea to broaden the challenge next time and include bridges on the many other inhabited islands such as Murano, Burano and Sant'Erasmo in the Venice lagoon. Could be fun, because some of the islands are very, very different from Venice, the tourist hub.

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