A quarantine island was established in the lagoon at Lazaretto Vecchio in 1408. No, but seriously, this place sounds scary. Fall is my favorite season. He later flung himself off the bell tower. Mary Beth Griggs is a freelance science journalist based in New York City. For all its unassuming appearance, however, it has a dark history and is said to be one of the most haunted places in Europe, a continent saturated … Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. Lazzaretto Vecchio, a small island in the lagoon, was home to the first lazzaretto. ***********. Home to the dead bodies in the Bubonic Plague, the Poveglia Island is located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoo, northern Italy. ... At the time of the Black Plague conditions in the islands hospital called Lazzaretto Vecchio … During the Napoleonic period it functioned, as so many other islands did, as a gunpowder magazine (Bonaparte might have wanted to be "an Attila to the state of Venice ", but even he baulked at the idea of building high explosive storage facilities in the centre of a densely … Back to the Haunted Island. The first stop will be at the former quarantine center, Lazzaretto Vecchio, where between 1403 and 1630 it housed a hospital which cared for people during the plague. Apparently this small abandoned island is haunted!. Your email address will not be published. During the plague, Lazaretto Vecchio was used as a quarantine center for victims and recently mass graves of plague victims were uncovered. Although Lazaretto Vecchio was closed for several years due to the economic situation at the time, members of the Archeoclub of Venice have worked to restore the island to safety. Poveglia Historical and Cultural Tour 3 hours tour – from Tuesday to Sunday Poveglia Historical and Cultural Tour 3 hours tour – from Tuesday to Sunday The ‘Fondamente of the Incurables’. A lazzaretto was established on the island to house the sick. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. Your first stop will be Lazzaretto Vecchio, originally the site for a hospital from the 15th century until the 17th century to nurse patients during the plague epidemics. The island first appears in the historical records in 421, and in 1776 the island was used to separate the unhealthy from the healthy. In 2004, workers digging the foundation for a museum on Lazzaretto Vecchio, a small island in Italy’s Venetian Lagoon, made a gruesome discovery. The Lazzaretto Vecchio is an island of the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, located near the Lido of Venice. The island is first mentioned in chronicles of 421 AD. Feb 26, 2013 - In 2007 work crews on Lazaretto Vecchio, a small island in Italy’s Venetian Lagoon, located a couple of miles from Venice’s famed Piazza San Marco, were digging the foundation for a new museum when they came across one such grave pit, filled with the remains of more than 1,500 plague victims. No word as to whether to monastary, castle or barracks being auctioned off include their own ghosts. Aug 4, 2016 - Discover Poveglia Plague Island in Venice, Italy: A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past. The scary island is divided into two separate parts by a canal. Recently, mass graves have been found on the nearby islands of Lazaretto Nuovo and Lazzaretto Vecchio containing the remains of thousands of plague victims. This island’s very dark history does point to the fact that it is probably haunted but this activity is so interwoven with legend it is difficult to separate the two. The excursion was advertised as a Haunted Islands tour in honor of Halloween, and we visited Poveglia, Malamocco, and Lazzaretto Vecchio, which I'm pretty sure translates to "old hospital." Lazzaretto Vecchio is home to the oldest of Venice's plague quarantine stations (above, a view from the museum island) Black Death era: 16th-century graffiti … You can’t live in Venice, or as close to Venice as we do, without hearing the tall tales of the island Italians claim is the most haunted in the world. The island was also a weapons cache for Napoleon’s armies. Later a second quarantine island was created at Lazaretto Nuovo. Below is the current list of places featured in EXILE (excluding the Priory of Captains, the Pentapolis and the other final destinations). The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film celebration in the world, founded in 1932. ... Other stories claim that the tormented souls who suffered on the island haunted him and that his only escape was suicide. It goes without saying that many of these people died on the island during this time, leading to the widespread belief that Poveglia is haunted. In the 9th century the Doge of Venice [the provincial governor] was killed, and an estimated two hundred of … The tiny 18-acre Italian island of Poveglia is located less than half a mile from Venice and is considered to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. The island is first mentioned in chronicles of 421 AD. The island was repurposed in 1776 as a checkpoint for ships coming and leaving Venice. California Do Not Sell My Info This year has been a difficult on, It’s #worldracletteday! Yes, I love chestnuts, truffles, cardigans, chunky scarves and pumpkin pies. It covers an area 2.53 hectares (6.3 acres) large. It was used as a hospital and medical isolation area for centuries. Another historical island of interest, although admittedly I only went to Burano, is Lazzaretto Vecchio. Caligula's Gardens, Long Hidden Beneath Italian Apartment Building, to Go on View, Newly Discovered Bat Species Has Halloween Colors, Rare Doctor's Note Offers Glimpse Into Napoleon's Agonized Final Years, Dire Wolves Weren't Actually Wolves, DNA Analysis Reveals, The History Behind Amazon's 'One Night in Miami', You Can Now Explore the CIA's 'Entire' Collection of UFO Documents Online, Turkish Archaeologists Discover Grave of Sultan Who Defeated Crusaders, 'Stunning' Victorian Bathhouse Unearthed Beneath Manchester Parking Lot, Nine Famous People and What They’re Buried With. The sad but important history of the island is a vital part of the story that came to define one of the most tragic episodes in Venice’s history. The haunted tower on Lazzaretto Vecchio (Dreamstime) Lazzaretto Vecchio has served many purposes in its long history. ****************************, Happy Holidays! 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