Poveglia

Poveglia (/poʊˈvɛliə/ poh-VEL-ee-ə; Italian: [poˈveʎʎa]) is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, of northern Italy. A small canal divides the island into two separate parts. The island first appears in the historical record in 421 and was populated and farmed until the residents fled warfare in 1379. For more than 100 years, beginning in 1776, the island was used as a quarantine station for incoming ships and their cargo, and later as a geriatric hospital. The geriatric hospital closed in 1968. After decades of neglect, the northern part of the island was granted as a concession to Poveglia per tutti in 2025 for development as a public park. Because of its history, the island is frequently featured on paranormal shows.

The island was used as a quarantine station for incoming ships and their cargo from 1793 until 1814.^[1] In 1922 the existing buildings were converted into a nursing home/long-term care facility, until its closure in 1968.

Sylvia Sprigge in her 1961 book ‘The Lagoon Of Venice; Its Islands, Life And Communications’ describes the site as a home for indigent old people. Sprygge relates delivering a letter to a Doctor on the island, and describes how the able-bodied residents tended agricultural plots, and made wine using the traditional method of crushing grapes underfoot.

In 2014, the Italian state auctioned a 99-year lease of Poveglia, which would remain state property, to raise revenue, hoping that the buyer would redevelop the damaged buildings.^[2] The highest bid was from Italian businessman Luigi Brugnaro, (€513,000), who planned to invest €20 million in a restoration plan.^[3] The lease did not proceed because his project was judged not to meet all the conditions.^[4][5] Other sources suggested that the deal was annulled because the bid was too low.^[6] Brugnaro initially fought the cancellation of the lease, but after he became mayor of Venice, he renounced any intentions to the island.^[7]

In 2014, a citizens' association, Poveglia per Tutti, was formed to prevent privatization and raised €460,000 from over 4,500 contributors in order to participate in the auction.^[8] The organization's goals were to transform the island into a freely accessible public park, repurpose existing buildings for revenue-generating cultural projects, and operate under sustainable community-oversight principles with equal decision-making rights for all members.^[9] Their initial bid was also unsuccessful. But after years of legal battles and repeated rejections, the Regional Administrative Court of Veneto ruled twice in favor of the association, finding that the Agency of State Property had not provided sufficient justification for denying concession requests.^[10] On August 1, 2025, Poveglia per tutti received a 6-year concession for the northern part of the island to implement their urban lagoon park project.^[11]

The surviving buildings on the island consist of a cavana, a church, a hospital, an asylum, a bell-tower, housing and administrative buildings for the staff. The bell-tower is the most visible structure on the island, and dates back to the 12th century. It belonged to the church of San Vitale, which was demolished under Napoleon's orders in 1806. The tower was re-used as a lighthouse.

A bridge connects the island where buildings stand with the island that was given over to trees and fields. The octagonal fort is on a third, separate island, next to the island with the buildings, but unconnected to it. The fort consists solely of an earthen rampart faced on the outside with brick.

The island contains one or more plague pits. An estimate published by National Geographic suggests that over 100,000 people died on the island over the centuries and were buried in plague pits.^[1]

News reports in 2014/2015 said that the building and rusting artifacts still existed.^[12][7][13]

• Povoledo, Elisabetta (15 August 2025). "For Some Venetians, This Overgrown Island Is Paradise". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2025.

• Satellite image from Google Maps