Day 263 - Chillaxing on Mazzorbo

View to Burano
from Mazzorbo

Another morning, another sunny and hot summer day. Our plans for today, given it's a Sunday and likely to be very busy with weekend tourists, is to enjoy a bit of a lie in and then a long breakfast before heading out to do, as George Costanza would say "nothing." Today is a day about "nothing."  In other words, Angela will take her drawing kit and I will grab my Jonathan Kellerman crime novel and we're going to migrate around the island of Mazzorbo looking for shady spots under which to draw and read. Meanwhile we can look across the narrow channel that separates us from Burano and watch the tourists swarm into it from the water buses, tour boats and cruise ship shuttles. By about 6 p.m. the streets will be emptying and that is when Ange and I will venture across the bridge into Burano for a late supper.

Artichoke garden in our hotel.

The island of Mazzorbo, in addition to being the location of our hotel, its two restaurants and the vineyard and fruit/vegetable gardens (artichokes and tomatoes are big here) also has a couple of other restaurants and a small canal that bisects the island with colourful houses on either side. On the section adjacent to Burano is a more modern housing development that has been painted in a variety of colours to match the older houses on this island and on Burano. At one time Mazzorbo was an important port (which explains the bisecting canal) for trade, but today it is known mostly for its vineyard and orchards. There are paths everywhere which allow you to walk and cycle around it. In the middle is a football stadium where the local Burano team plays and it is closely associated with Venice FC, which plays in the Italian Serie B (one level below the top division Serie A).

Church of Santa Caterina

Mazzorbo was settled by those running from Attila the Hun and his Barbarian hordes who invaded the area in the fifth century. It has been found that the Romans developed a large city on the mainland near where the Venice airport now exists and this may be where the inhabitants of Mazzorbo came from. In the 11th century, this island and the surrounding islands, such as Torcello, lost out to Venice as the principal location for trade and development. Today, the most significant historical building on the island is the Church of Santa Caterina built in the later part of the 13th century. In the 17th century there were two churches and three monasteries on Mazzorbo, with one of these monastries associated with Santa Caterina.

Some Canadian with the Tower
of Sant'Angelo behind him

In the vineyard associated with our hotel there remains the 15th century tower of one of those two churches, Sant'Angelo, the church itself having been demolished in the 19th century. One cannot turn around without seeing some evidence of the amazing history of this region among all of these islands; Mazzorbo, Burano, Torcello, San Erasmo -- but only if you have waited for the tourism horde to have made their way back to Venice proper.

Ale of the Day: Unfortunately I have suspended this segment until my return to the UK as there are no real ales available here - just lagers, which I will suffer with until then.