ALTINO. -
It was a municipium of the Scaptia tribe in the Venetian littoral, on the Via Annia at its intersection with the Claudia Augusta. Its first bishop appears in 381, with Eliodoro, the great friend of s. Girolamo. Around 442 there appears that Settimo who was praised by s. Leone Magno; in 501, Pietro, who played so significant a role in the affairs of Pope Simmaco. The Lombard invasions of the seventh century brought complete ruin to the city, from which it never recovered. Venetian traditions relate that the episcopal see was then transferred to Torcello, in the lagoon; the bishops, however, continued to bear the title of A. until the end of that century.
BIBL.: Lanzoni, p. 909 ff.; for the Venetian traditions cf. V. PAVIA, Il patriarcato di Venezia e le sue origini, Venice 1938, p. 185 ff.