The legend of the Devil’s Bridge is that a Venetian girl fell in love with an army officer. This union, however, was not accepted by her family, who did everything they could to distance the two and prevent the young men from continuing their relationship. The girl was even banished from Venice until she received news of her beloved’s death, who had been murdered. Desperate for the loss of the love of her life, the young Venetian woman decided to stop eating and surrender to death until a family friend told her to turn to a witch. And so one of the key characters in this story enters the picture.
The famous pact with the Devil
The young woman decided to follow the advice and went to this alleged witch, making a pact with the devil that involved exchanging the souls of seven children for that of her beloved. The agreed-upon location for this macabre exchange was none other than the Torcello Bridge. The girl, along with the witch, sailed to the island of Torcello by boat and, disembarking from the right side of the bridge, carrying a lit candle and a gold coin, given to her by the witch, crossed the bridge. At this point, the witch invoked the Devil, who, upon seeing the girl, spat the key to space and time into the water in exchange for the gold coin. The young man appeared on the other side of the bridge, and the Venetian woman, overjoyed, reached him, blew out the candle, and set out with him on the path to happiness.
The witch, however, still had to repay her debt to the Devil and agreed with him to make this exchange on December 24th. The woman was unexpectedly killed by a young man who had witnessed the scene and wanted to save the poor children from sacrifice. The Devil showed up at the rendezvous without finding her, unaware of the woman’s death. Thus, still awaiting his payment, he continues to appear on the bridge on the island of Torcello every December 24th, waiting to collect the seven innocent souls, and he does so in the form of a black cat.
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