VENICE, ITALY – Every day in Venice is an adventure. Every day, something unexpected occurs that propels the day far beyond ordinary expectations. Taking a boat trip into the Venice lagoon to visit the abandoned island of Lazzaretto Nuovo was just such an experience.
Anne had fortuitously signed us up for a free boat ride when we visited the Dutch Pavilion during our Biennale Giardini day Wednesday, May 13.
We met our excellent guide, Ugo, at the little ponte (bridge) right next to the St. Elena vaporetto (water taxi) dock – just one stop away from Lido at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 16.
A 15-minute ride in a small open boat which held 20 passengers brought us to a dock on L’Isola Del Lazzaretto Nuovo, a small island in the Venice Lagoon located just off of the island of Lido. It is strategically located about 3 kilometers northeast of the entrance to Venice proper. We navigated past cruise ships, motorboats, car ferries, vaporetti, and other vessels to get there. This island is not open to the general public and we felt lucky to have been able to arrange this trip.
There is not much information available on the Island of Lazzeretto (not to be confused with similarly-named sites in Greece). The island of Lazzaretto Nuovo in the Venice Lagoon is the first of the name Lazzaretto which evolved from its own original name of Nazareth.
The handout that we received describes the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio in the southern lagoon of Venice as the first isolation hospital in the world, dating to 1423.
During the middle ages, a church and accommodations were built for pilgrims travelling to and from the Holy Land. The complex eventually became a quarantine station for both people and goods arriving from plague-ridden countries. Plague victims were nursed here (and of course, died here and were buried here in mass graves) when the plague threatened Venice. The hospital was run by a prior and his wife, the prioress, and was visited by doctors who wore the traditional face mask of the long white beak surrounded by black cloth.
Both people and goods—including mail bound for Venice—were treated by fumigating the buildings with smoke produced by burning herbs such as juniper and rosemary.
This process of isolating those who were sick, and keeping them apart from the general population was regarded as a success. Lazzaretto is considered the first known quarantine site in the world.
Excavations conducted in 2004 revealed remains of about 1500 victims buried on the island. Since the mid-19th century, Lazzaretto served as a military base for warehouses and gunpowder.
Today, the heritage of the island is being restored by the Venice branch of the Archeoclub d’Italia.
The free boat rides which occur as part of the 2015 Dutch Pavilion’s Biennale exhibit are staffed by volunteers and are facilitated by the artist Herman de Vries.
Several white stone plaques created by the artist are located on Lazzaretto; he wished the island to retain its rustic ambiance. Future plans include developing the island to make use of the buildings as a museum and as an educational site. Many of the brick structures have benefitted from restoration but many have fallen into disrepair.
For more information on this fascinating site, our guide has provided his email address: ugodelcorso@me.com.
After returning to St. Elena from our tour, we decided to take the vaporetto into Venice and enjoy the remainder of our evening by walking around Saint Mark’s Square. It should have been only two boat stops away. And then we broke Rick Steves’ cardinal rule of riding vaporetti. Always ask exactly where the boat is going before you step on board. We passed the San Marco stop and continued on the waterway to the far left side of the Grand Canal, travelling behind the Salute Church. The vaporetto didn’t stop until it reached San Zattere – a place we’d never been. But being the intrepid travelers that we are, we simply got off at the dock, popped into a church to sightsee and walked through the narrow streets of the Dorsoduro section, spotting a street performer playing water glasses to the amusement and admiration of passersby, and a water dish for dogs built into a restaurant’s front wall. Then, we crossed the Bridge at Accadamia, until we reached St. Mark’s Square.
We each enjoyed a Margharita Pizza at a quaint little ristorante just off the square (8 euros each), walked across St. Mark’s Square, past the Duce Palazzo, to our vaporetto to Lido. Any day spent wandering around in Venice is a good day, even if you don’t end up going where you thought you were going to go!
