Torcello Island – The other face of the lagoon

Most Torcello visitors arrive from the Borgognoni canal,pass in front of the fifteenth century “San Tommaso dei Borgognoni” sacristy remains, go alone the fondamenta (banks) with the same name, arrive at Santa Maria Bridge and then visit the Square, with its archaeological museum, the Santa Maria Assunta Basilica and the anne-xed Santa Fosca Church- this is a normal Torcello visit on tour.
Very few people know that at the end of the sixties, the Borgognoni Church sacristy was th Torcello home for Lucio and Clementina Andrich. Then Lucio moved to the house, that he used to love calling “Forte di Vigna Granda” where today you can get the best island view i.e. looking over the Palude della Rosa (marshland).
Visitor are escorted by Lucio’s nephew Paolo,who is one of Torcello’s nine residents.
Casa Museo Andrich – the Andrich Home-Museum – is a pratically a secret, for tourists passing through.
Very few know that you only need to enter the island’s private property, and be fascinated when you discover a completely different world. The landscape changes completely with respect to the usual Torcello scenery.
The private gardens are meticulously cared for, and thriving luxuriant nature abounds.
From this area, the incredibly spectacular lagoon landscape changes with each sea level.
From the shores of Casa Museo Andrich looking out onto velme nd barene (salt water and land formations in the lagoon area) in Palude della Rosa, one can perfectly understand how the Venetian lagoon was hydrogeologically formed – thanks to the river deposits and flooding from the Piave river and its tributaries.
Animal species passing by the Venetian Lagoon, are often found in the lagoon area in front of the house – these range from the blackwinged stilt to the curlew sandpiper, from the grey heron to the common shelduck and sometimes even flamingos as can be seen in the following youtube: Flamingos by Andrich Home. In the vegetable garden section, traditional island vegetable ae grown, while 1,300 worksof art belonging to Lucio and Clementina Andrich are exhibited on a rotation basis in the House Museum.
Some of these works were on show in a exhibition entitled: Seta, Terra e Acqua Lucio Andrich e la Laguna di Venezia (Silk,Earth and water Lucio Andrich and the Venetian Lagoon) organized at Torre Massimiliana on the Island of San Erasmo in 2005. Other precious works were added to the Andrich collection in 2014, and while waiting to increase exhibition space, Paolo decided to open the Andrich house to public visitors.
The big collection of modern art produced by the two artists, Lucio and Clementina Andrich is a significant contribution in understanding the artistic excitement experienced in Venice, between the fifties and eighties.
There are wooden, stone, and ceramic sculptures, engravings, tapestries, silks, canvas paintings, and experimental works of great artistic value inspired by exceptional rural landscape around the house.
The beauty of this place is so unique that the Coldiretti Veneto (Federation of Italian farmers – Veneto region) chose the Casa Andrich and Habitat Torcello, a FlamingoArtMedia project, as their finalists in the National “OSCAR GREEN” competition with its prizegiving in October, this year, at the 2015 Milan Expo.