Travel Guide Poveglia

The origins of the name of the island are uncertain. It is said that it could derive from Via Popilia, or Piovega, which in Venetian means "public thing". This island represented a stage on the Endolitoranea road, a system of natural and artificial channels that allowed boats to navigate in internal waters and thus avoid the risks of navigation in the open sea. The first populations of the island probably came from Monselice, Este and the Padua area. From 421 onwards, they founded Malamocco and, from there, spread to the neighboring islands. When Pepin descended into Italy in 809, the inhabitants of Poveglia contributed so valiantly to the hunt for the Franks that they were granted many privileges. After being abandoned, the island was repopulated in 846 by the servants and slaves of the doge Pietro Tradonico. Houses were built (in the 10th century there were said to be about 800), as well as fortifications. The population grew to such an extent that in the 14th century, during the war against the Genoese, Poveglia was asked to provide as many ships as Murano had. This war coincided with the beginning of the decline of the island. Poveglia remained practically abandoned until the end of the 17th century. At that time, the wind that came to sweep the island was used to build a hospital. The theories of the time were that the wind drove away the agents responsible for the diseases and acted as a disinfectant. Poveglia housed a geriatric hospital until 1968. Then the island was definitively abandoned.In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about turning Poveglia into a tourist village, and the Touring Club Italiano and the Club Mediterraneo wanted to get involved in the project. However, due to lack of funds, today Poveglia is a ghost island, where the buildings of the old hospital, increasingly dilapidated, await a restoration that is slow to come. In summer, Venetians like to go swimming with their own boat and have a barbecue from time to time. But in the evening no one dares to go near it, for fear of the spirits that wander around...