Travel Guide San Francesco Del Deserto

Located south of Burano, this is the island where il poverello d'Assisi, otherwise known as Saint Francis, is said to have landed during a terrible storm on his return from Syria, Egypt and Palestine. No sooner had he set foot on land than, according to legend, the storm ceased and the birds began to chirp around the saint. The saint then planted a wooden stick in the ground, which immediately turned into a pine tree. The island, called Isola delle due Vigne, or island of the two vineyards, then owned by Jacopo Michiel, became San Francesco Island and, at the same time, the territory of a Franciscan convent. The lagoon's fishermen also nicknamed it "The Silent One". A church dedicated to the saint was also built. In 1420, the island's population deserted it, fleeing malaria. Its name was thus completed by del deserto, meaning "of the desert". Just as the Minori Osservanti had returned to live on the island and restore the convent, the island was once again abandoned, following Napoleon's decision to close a very large number (almost all, in fact) of convents and churches. Today, the island is once again the property of the Franciscan order, and is visited mainly for its natural beauty and profound calm.