Location: Poveglia Island, 3 miles South of Venice Map
Area: 7.25 acres
Buildings: 11 structures
Closed (technically): due to poor state of buildings
Poveglia Island is a small island situated just 3 miles South of Venice in the Venetian Lagoon in Italy. Poveglia Island consists of two parts divided by a canal that has a single bridge over it. This abandoned plot of land is off limits to the tourists due to the condition of the buildings that are falling apart, but it does not mean people don't find ways to get to the island. Its main attraction is the remains of the mental institution that were opened in 1922 and closed in 1968. Many reports of paranormal activity have surfaced that keep the fame of Poveglia Island as one of the most haunted places in Italy alive and persistent. Several reality shows were filmed at this location including Ghost Adventures, Scariest Places on Earth and many more. Hospital that contains about 11 buildings on its grounds is considered to be one of the most haunted places.
Why is Poveglia Island off limits?
Currently there is reconstruction project going on the grounds of Poveglia Island by the Italian government. Dilapidated buildings are secured and reconstructed to restore to its previous significance. Additionally attempts are being undertaken to secure beaches of the island from further erosion into the sea. Hopefully it will be open soon for legal visits by tourists.
Ancient hooks and fossil clam shells are found on Poveglia, but there is no trace of a permanent settlement.
Like all the islands of the Venetian lagoon, Popilia was part of the
maritime Veneto, itself part of Byzantine Italy, but was only a fishing
village until 864 when, according to Pompeo Gherardo Molmenti, about two
hundred Venetian families, supporters of the doge Pietro Tradonico
killed following a plot of Venetian nobles, came to take refuge there.
They had barricaded themselves in the Doge's Palace until their lives
were saved and a land to settle in. Orso Partecipazio, the successor of
the assassinated doge, granted them the island and a number of
privileges.
In June 1305, Tolberto da Camino, Iacopo Ricco, Guido
Avogaro and Pirolino de' Costantini, ambassadors of Gerardo and Rizzardo
da Camino and the municipality of Treviso, asked the Doge of Venice to
hand over to them some guilty of "machinations" against da Camino and
the municipality of Treviso. The Doge replied that he was sorry, that he
could not "hand them over as foreigners", but that he had already had
them arrested in Poveglia where they would be tried.
In less than
a century, the community of Poveglia grew: more than eight hundred
houses were built and the island became rich in vineyards, fishponds and
salt marshes. In 1378 it had become an autonomous republic ruled by a
ducal Gastaldo and seventeen Consiglieri. The gastaldo represented the
island opposite the Palazzo Ducale.
In view of the importance
assumed by the population of the island, on December 30, 1339, by a
resolution of the Great Council, the podestate was charged with
rendering justice, and Pietro Lando was elected one of the nine
podestates of the Dogado.
The new podestate had jurisdiction over
Malamocco, Pellestrina and Pastene. Every Monday he had to go to
Malamocco and another day of the week to Pellestrina. But since the trip
to Pellestrina was long and unpleasant in winter, it was decided in
October 1341 to give it up. The podestate was elected for a year and
this man aged between 20 and 50 was assisted by a notary and four
famuli.
In addition to civil and legal jurisdictions, he had to
ensure the protection of the fragile environmental balance, take care of
the condition of the vines, and maintain the docks and the banks. He was
also in charge of ensuring the regularity of the entrances to the city,
Poveglia being the obligatory point of passage to go to Venice then.
In September 1375, in particular, he had the inhabitants of Chioggia
arrested who were transporting contraband wine to Venice at night.
The decline of Poveglia began after 1379, because of the Chioggia
War. The population decreased significantly, but those who remained on
the island were never deprived of their former privileges, such as tax
exemption.
In the sixteenth century, the island was transformed
into a lazaretto (the Lazzaretto Vecchio and the Lazzaretto Nuovo were
saturated), allowing to welcome people sick of the plague. Local rumors
say that more than 160,000 of these people were buried there. Large pits
would have been dug there and imposing pyres installed in order to burn
the bodies. Fearing that the bacillus could spread, some people who
showed less severe symptoms were reportedly sent there after being
separated from their families.
In the eighteenth century, two laws were promulgated so that ships
suspected of having cases of plague on board could remain in quarantine
in front of Poveglia.
"Permitendo circostanze del tempo e
dell'acqua, obbligato ammiraglio Malamocco condur bastimenti in una sol
volta al loro luogo: li provenienti da luoghi infetti in Fisolo, quelli
di minor sospetto in Poveglia [...] »
"Con li metodi prescritti
da terminazione 5 febbraio 1760, tradur debbano bastimenti soggetti a
contumacia di giorni 40 nel Canal di Poveglia, li soggetti a giorni 28
in quello de' Marinis"
In 1777, the island came under the
jurisdiction of the Magistrato alla Sanità.
The ships, their
crews and passengers did not come directly to the Lido, but used the
canale di Poveglia and the Teson, and passed through Poveglia, where the
large building served as a lazaretto. In 1793, a crew of a "tartarella
idriotta infetta di peste" was isolated there, but no deaths from the
plague were recorded. In the report of an engineer dated April 20, 1842,
we can read that "The lazaretto of Poveglia was gradually brought to
this use, with the construction of spacious buildings with imperative
conditions for health" ; new wells are being built to avoid any possible
contamination.
In the eighteenth century, there was still a
church dedicated to San Vitale on the island, which had a famous
crucifix, now preserved in the Malamocco church, and a painting by
Titian, but being dilapidated, it was closed in 1806 and later
demolished. Only the pointed bell tower has been preserved, which was
transformed into a lighthouse when the island served as a shelter for
ships in quarantine.
During the nineteenth century, during the Austrian era, the island
was transformed into a quarantine center, a use maintained by Italy
until the Second World War, during which it was occupied by the soldiers
of fascist Italy and served as a dying place for prisoners of the
Italian resistance and a morgue.
After the war, restored Poveglia
hosts a convalescence and rest home for the elderly until 1968.
In the twenty-first century, many urban legends are spread about
Poveglia by ghost hunters, especially Anglo-Saxons, according to which
it would be "haunted", to the point that it becomes a tourist business.
The Daily Telegraph states that "Poveglia is considered, by some, as a
place renowned for paranormal phenomena", and adds that the island is
even "considered one of the most haunted places in the world": this
poses such problems that since 2004, the island has been closed to
tourists. Since 2004, the main activity of the island is agriculture,
especially viticulture and fishing.
In 2014, the Italian government, the owner of Poveglia, announced its
intention to separate from the island, in accordance with the policy of
selling state assets aimed at reducing the indebtedness of the Italian
state. Poveglia is auctioned for an emphyteutic lease for a period of
ninety-nine years by the Agenzia del demanio. To prevent this historic
place from becoming a resort for the most fortunate on the planet, the
Venetians have created an association, "Poveglia per Tutti". To try to
win the auction, everyone can participate up to € 99 and thus have their
share in the future of the island.
Despite the mobilization of
the Venetians to raise 440,000 euros, the auction was won by businessman
Luigi Brugnaro, with a bid of 513,000 euros, in May 2014. The offer of
this buyer was nevertheless rejected in June 2014 by the Italian public
agency in charge of the sale which had thirty days to validate or not
the purchase offer. This one appeals and intends to cover Poveglia with
luxury hotels.
421 - The island was a refuge for people who fled from Padua and Este
during the barbarian invasions.
809 - Following the invasion of
Pepin, the inhabitants fled to the Rialtine islands.
864 - Doge Orso
Partecipazio, to put down the revolt of the servants of the murdered
Doge Pietro Tradonico, allowed them to live on the island of Poveglia
and gave the community many privileges. In the following centuries the
island prospered both economically and demographically so much that it
was ruled first by a tribune, then by a ducal steward and finally by a
Podestà.
1379 - During the war of Chioggia, the fort called Ottagono
was built to defend the island and is still visible today; for security
reasons the inhabitants were transferred to the Giudecca.
1527 - The
Magistrato alle Ragioni Vecchie, seeing the abandonment of the place and
the buildings following the war of Chioggia, offered it to the
Camaldolese to build a convent, but they refused.
1661 - It was
proposed to the Povegliani to rebuild the buildings but they also
refused.
1777 - It passed under the jurisdiction of the Health
Magistrate, and became a transit and health control station for the
crews of vessels and for the expurgation of goods.
1793/1799 - Due to
a plague epidemic that broke out on two ships, the island was
temporarily used as a hospital.
1805/1814 - It was definitively used
as a hospital. Following the Napoleonic edict, the church dedicated to
San Vitale was demolished and the adjacent bell tower was used as a
lighthouse. - Start
20th century - The island was equipped as a
maritime station for the quarantine of crews and passengers coming from
ports where cases of epidemics had occurred. In the following years, the
health complex was converted into a convalescent home for the rest home.
1968 - This last use was abandoned and after a brief period of
abandonment the island was given in concession to a farmer who
cultivates the uncovered spaces. The buildings, due to the total lack of
maintenance, are rapidly falling into disrepair.
1997 - The CTS draws
up a project for the island which envisages the construction of a
complex for youth accommodation and cultural enjoyment.
1999 - The
Ministry of the Treasury excludes Poveglia from the list of assets to be
put up for sale and hands it back to the State so that it can be granted
to the CTS. In this context, the Consorzio Venezia Nuova will have to
proceed with the renewal of the margins. I visit.
Of the ancient parish church of San Vitale only the bell tower
remains, spared from the Napoleonic suppressions because it was used
as a lighthouse. The tower clock, dating back to 1745 is the work of
Bartolomeo Ferracina.
The church of Poveglia was a place of
worship of certain importance as there was preserved a crucifix in
plaster and stucco of the fifteenth century considered miraculous;
it is found today in the parish church of Malamocco. However, the
paintings representing Christ led to Calvary, by Giulia Lama, and
the Miracle of the Crucifix by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta have been
lost.
Several sources indicate in Poveglia island the place
where, in 1510, the famous painter Giorgione was buried, but there
is no certainty. Another source indicates, for example, the island
of the Lazzaretto Nuovo as a burial site.
From the ghosts of the dead of the plague to that of the mad
doctor who threw himself from the bell tower
It is said of
thousands of plague victims who lost their lives in this place, who
lie buried haphazardly in huge mass graves and who would still
infest it today, without being able to find peace.
It tells of a
crazy doctor who carried out terrible experiments on children housed
in an orphanage, innocent victims of a madness that ended only with
suicide, when the man threw himself from the top of the bell tower
of the small church that still stands out among the trees .
To support these hypotheses, the presence of the indication of a
psychiatric ward, still today painted on the facade of a crumbling
building, as well as that of strange equipment - largely covered
with rust and dust - and that general sense of unease and mystery
that brings with it every ruined place whose history is not known.
Young gostbusters on the run
One summer a few years ago, five
twenty-year-old Americans paid the price who, well determined to
spend a night hunting for ghosts, found nothing better than to call
for help to passing boats in the middle of the night, terrified,
stating that the place was haunted from evil spirits and
otherworldly presences.
The curious thing is that most Venetians…
“discovered” it then, thanks to them.
Up to that moment, in fact,
no Venetian legend, ancient or modern, had ever referred to this
sinister aspect of the island.
Poveglia: a community dear to
the doges and an island in vogue until the mid-1300s
But what is
the truth? The first of the acclaimed truths is that Poveglia is in
a total state of abandonment: crumbling dormitories, large kitchens
in ruins, stairs and collapsed walls.
Yet the island has a long
and sumptuous history, which begins almost with the history of
Venice and is accompanied for a long time with the destinies of the
Serenissima: the Poveglianense community was very dear to the doges.
It had special privileges and was flourishing until almost the
entire fourteenth century.
After the middle of that century the
island was abandoned and in the fifteenth century it remained
substantially uninhabited.
An alternating fate of abandonment and
reuse followed until the eighteenth century, when it became a
sanatorium.
The arrival of the plague
1793 marked a
turning point. That year, a small Greek ship arrived in Venice whose
sailors complained of symptoms that were sadly known in the city:
they had the plague and were taken to Poveglia.
There were about
thirty of them, and twelve of them died and were buried on the
island.
Six years later (it was 1799 and the Republic was now a
thing of the past), another eight sailors – this time from a Spanish
ship – lost their lives and were buried in Poveglia, again due to
the plague.
Twenty people who died at the end of the eighteenth
century and who are very far from the figures that the contemporary
narrative would have us believe: not twenty thousand, not two
hundred thousand. Twenty people in all.
There are also images of
mass graves circulating on the net which have nothing to do with
Poveglia but which concern the nearby Lazzaretto Vecchio (on which,
incidentally, there is no "black" legend).
Three hospitals
for Venice
The Venetians invented the Lazzaretti and the
quarantine.
The Old Lazzaretto was established in 1423, followed
by the New one in 1468 and finally by Poveglia, who established the
“Novissimo” Lazzaretto in 1793.
Today of all this remains only a
half-buried stone hidden among the vegetation which reads: "Ne
fodias", do not dig, which can also be interpreted as "do not
disturb".
“The living dead from contagion – continues the
inscription – rest here”.
The date is that of 1793, precisely.
These are mass burials of the victims of several waves of plagues on Poveglia Island. This is only a fraction of all the bodies that were buried here. Many more were burned or tossed in similar holes around the Poveglia Island. Local fisherman avoid the area around the islands. Due to soil erosion over the course of centuries many of the former graves were washed away. People's bones were commonly found in the fish nets that were thrown here. So locals stopped fishing here altogether.