The Monticellonian., 1916-03-02

among other cities. The folk of Altinum took refuge on an Is- land in the lagoon and founded Tor cello. In the pressure of those miser- able days, when the German invaders almost succeeded in destroying the civilization which Greece and Rome had slowly built up during a thousand years of wise labor the lagoon islands became place of retreat for various harried peoples, who fled to them for shelter, as in our days so many dis tressed Belgians have fled to Holland and England, writes Sir Martin Conway in Country life. That was how Venice and Malamocco were called into being; but Torcello was the first of these cities of refuge. It was likewise for a long time the chief city of the lagoons; the first Doge whose name is remembered had his seat of government there.
 Venice, for all it's antiquity. throbs with contemporary life. To go from it to Torcello is to plunge into the past. The very transit by gondola lhdlIuto dlSO ttIdt u dIfSltiOii. IOIIi the city of the living you float past the city of the dead, and so over the wide lagoon to Burano. Then come devious channels among sand banks and low lying islands, inhabited, if at All, by malaria-strieken folk. At last Torcello rises before you with it's i'm posing group of churches and it's in- significant cluster of houses. There stands the cathedral with it's Re= manesque campanile and near by the arcaded octagon of Santa Fosea. Gone is all else of importance that once arose here in pride. A ruined bap- tistery can still be traced The small piazza retains an unimposing medi- eval town hall and the loggia where laws were proclaimed That is all. A few fishing boats alone represent the fleet of merchant vessels that in the tenth century filled the great haven whereof Constantine Porphyregenetos wrote: Moreover, the whole aspect of the place is one of abandonment. Grass grows in the streets. There is nothing going on. The only modern life is that brought by the visitors who come to see the dead city,
 Churches are Restorations.
 It follows that he who would taste the abiding and most rare charm of Torcello must not visit 1t in a crowd. He must come alone, or at most with one or two sympathetic companions, and he must have plenty of time to spare, for such visions as these can not be apprehended in a few hurried moments. They do not strike hasty beholder; they creep into the con sciousness of one who yields himself entirely to their slow, insidious pene- tration. Neither the cathedral nor Santa Fosca are in fact nearly so old, in their preesnt condition, as they seem to be. One would willingly enough accept them as of early Chris tian date, for both the basilica and the round church are built on ancient lines and conform to early arehitec- tural forms The first cathedral on this spot was that built in mid-seventh century by Altinum refugees; possi- bly, one carved stone from that may survive. In S64 and again in 1908 the building was seriously dealt with, and the first restoration amounted to a rebuilding, though, to some extent, on the old lines and preserving the orig. final apse.
 In the year 1908 a further restora- tion was taken in hand, this time un- der strong Byzantine influence and probably with the cooperation of Greek craftsmen. This was during the food tide of the Byzantine Renais- sance, when the Eastern empire was strong on5e more and revived and even surpassed the glories of the great days of Justinian. Then it was that all the arts fourished in Constanti- nople and that from it the courts and wealthy shrines of all the West were enriched with the priceless and superb work of Greek goldsmiths, weavers embroiderers, and skilled craftsmen of every sort Venice, of course, inti-