Poveglia Island (Poveglia) is a small island in the Venetian Lagoon, one of the five most terrible places on the planet. Although Venice is associated with romance and sophistication, the Italian island of Poveglia, or Venice's Isle of the Dead, has acquired a reputation for being a dark place.
The Curse of Poveglia Island
The island was first mentioned in chronicles in the 1st century AD. Ancient sources say that the Romans from the large peninsular part of the Apennines inhabited it, fleeing the invasion of barbarians. Some of the documents claim that even during the Roman Empire, the island was associated with the plague - people infected with the plague were allegedly taken there. In the 16th century, the plague, which claimed more than a third of the lives in Europe, completely conquered this place - at least 160 thousand people were kept here in a makeshift plague isolation facility. 
The life of all of Europe was then under threat, but here there was no one left except corpses. The bonfires on which the bodies of those killed by the plague were burned burned for many months. The fate of those who showed the first signs of the disease was predetermined - they were sent to damn island without hope of salvation.
Ghosts of Plague Island
When Italy recovered from the epidemic, the authorities floated the idea of reviving the island's population, but no one went. An attempt to sell the territory or at least rent it out failed due to the notoriety of the land, literally saturated with human suffering.
Almost 200 years after the start great epidemic plague, in 1777, Poveglia was made an inspection checkpoint sea vessels. However, cases of plague suddenly returned, so the island was again converted into a temporary plague isolation facility, which lasted for about 50 years. 
Island prison for the mentally ill
The revival of the terrible heritage of the island of Poveglia begins in 1922, when a psychiatric clinic appears here. The Italian dictators who came to power encouraged experiments with human bodies and souls, so doctors who worked with local mental patients did not even hide the fact that they were performing crazy, cruel experiments on them. 
Many patients at the clinic suffered from strange collective hallucinations - they saw people engulfed in flames, listened to their dying screams, felt the touch of ghosts. Over time, members of the staff also became victims of hallucinations - that’s when they had to believe that this place was inhabited by a monstrous number of dead people who had not found peace. 
Soon the head physician died under strange circumstances - either he committed suicide in a fit of madness, or was killed by his patients. For unknown reasons, they decided to bury him here and walled up his body in the wall of the bell tower.
The psychiatric clinic closed in 1968. Before today the island remains uninhabited. Even tourists are not allowed here, although they could organize special tours for those who want to tickle their nerves. 
Sometimes daredevils penetrate the island of Poveglia on their own and bring back blood-chilling photos. Desolation, homelessness and devastation - this is what reigns on the island today. But this is not what frightens us at all: there is absolute silence, in which from time to time the sounds of a bell are heard, which has not existed for 50 years. 
In 2014, the Italian government resumed discussions on the ownership of the island. They still don’t want to buy it or rent it. Perhaps a special hotel will soon appear here for tourists who want to spend the night visiting ghosts, but this issue has not yet been finally resolved.
Poveglia is one of the most famous islands of the Venetian lagoon, in northern Italy. But it was not joyful events that brought fame to the island.
The first mention of the island dates back to the 420s AD; it was at this time that refugees from Este and Padua found refuge here.
Bad fame has come to the city since the Middle Ages. During the march of the bubonic plague across Europe, for hygiene purposes, it was decided to take all the corpses to Poveglia. There are rumors that not only corpses, but also sick people, and even those who had even the slightest suspicion of illness, were brought to the island while still alive, where they were dumped in pits along with the dead. It happened that whole families ended up here. And to prevent the disease from spreading further, they burned everyone together. It is said that approximately 160,000 people died here violent death. How and who calculated this figure is unknown; it is possible that this is the total number of corpses.
Needless to say, from that time on the land here became uninhabited.
However, the position of Povegli Island is very favorable, and around the 1770s the island became a checkpoint for ships entering the lagoon. A fort appears on the island, the remains of which have survived to this day. An isolation ward for sailors was also set up here, in which those arriving in the city had to spend about 40 days.
And in 1922, a hospital for the mentally ill was opened on the territory. It was rumored that the patients of the clinic were not only the mentally ill, but also opponents of the regime of Benito Mussolini. According to rumors, patients in the clinic were cruelly abused and performed terrible experiments. According to some reports, patients heard voices, crying and screams of people who had long died here. Maybe that made them even crazier. Now no one will know this. Even the head doctor of the hospital died under strange circumstances - he threw himself from a bell tower.
In 1968, everyone who was on the island left it and it became uninhabited.
Today it is almost impossible to legally enter the island. They say that you need to obtain official permission from the Venetian authorities, which can take about 10 months to issue. The area around the island is guarded by police boats.
On the island, you can clearly see the bell tower, the same one from which the doctor is said to have thrown himself. It was built back in the 12th century, and in the 18th it was used as a lighthouse. The oldest building on the island is a church, or rather its ruins, from the 12th century. The walls of the fort, which is an octagonal structure, have also been preserved.
Still, by making an agreement with the locals, it is quite possible to get to the island. But those who did this claim that they were overcome by fear on the island and stopped working. Cell phones, some even claimed to have seen ghosts and heard bells ringing….
The mystery of the ghostly island off the Italian coast is truly one of the most terrible. Poveglia is located near Venice, Italy, and its dark shores are littered with smooth human bones. It must be so scary there that no tourist has ever dared to set foot on the island.
When the plague hit Italy in 1576, thousands of corpses filled Venice and there was a terrible stench.
The rotting corpses had to be stored somewhere, and drastic measures had to be taken.
The dead were taken to the island and thrown into large pits, or burned in huge bonfires. But when the plague began to rage even more, people panicked, and those who showed signs of Black Death, dragged out of houses screaming.
These living victims, including children and infants, were taken to the island of Poveglia and thrown into pits of rotting corpses, where they died in agony. More than 160,000 bodies have been taken to the island over the years.
The entire island is still covered in a layer of ash from the remains of burnt bodies. Soon the locals began to see strange things and hear strange sounds coming from the ghostly island.
Despite its notoriety, a psychiatric hospital was built on the island in 1922. Patients immediately reported seeing ghosts with signs of decay from the plague and hearing strange whispers echoing from the walls. But no one believed them because they were already considered crazy and insane.
The hospital was run by a strange doctor who was interested in conducting experiments on his living patients in an attempt to find out what caused the madness. His methods were crude, to say the least. The lobotomy was performed using a hand drill or a hammer and chisel. Crazy patients were taken to the hospital tower, where they were subjected to terrible torture.
After several years of conducting these terrible experiments, the doctor himself began to see ghosts affected by the plague. It is said that ghosts rose from their graves, grabbed the doctor, and dragged him to the top of the bell tower. There they tortured him and forced him to throw himself off, and the doctor fell to his death.
As he lay on the ground, writhing in agony, breathing his last breath, a fog swirled around him, entered his body, and suffocated him. There are rumors that mentally ill people walled up his body in the bell tower. There his spirit remained, wandering around the empty tower to this day, and on quiet nights you can still hear the terrifying sound of the bells ringing over the bay.
A quarantine station, a common grave for victims of the plague and, more recently, by historical standards, a shelter for the insane - the tiny island of Poveglia, hidden from view in the Venetian Lagoon, has acquired many unpleasant legends during its long existence. But today it stands empty: a sad collection of dilapidated and dilapidated buildings, eaten by nature, slowly disappearing into oblivion along with their secrets, just two miles from the luxurious palaces of the Grand Canal.
Terrible legends about the island of Poveglia appear like weeds and are taken by everyone on faith as a reliable story. They say that Poveglia was twice the last refuge for thousands of patients during epidemics of the black plague, that its soil consists of 50% of the ashes of burnt corpses, that local fishermen avoid the island, fearing to find a catch of wave-polished fish in their nets. human bones that in the 20s of the last century horrific experiments were carried out here on mentally ill people, that the head doctor of the psychiatric hospital ultimately went crazy from his actions and committed suicide by jumping from the island bell tower, and a very mystical version suggests that Poveglia is densely populated by the spirits of tortured victims. During the island's existence as a place of exile, approximately 160,000 people are believed to have died on it.
The island has many nicknames: “the gates of hell”, “a dump of pure fear”, “a haven of lost souls”. The Venetians are doing everything possible to refute the terrible rumors about Poveglia and cool interest in the island on the part of lovers of the mystical. They claim that they are not at all afraid of this place, and in discussions of its history they avoid the topics of a psychiatric hospital and plague epidemics. Not long ago, an article in one of the popular Venetian magazines stated that the hospital buildings dominating the territory are nothing more than former houses recreation for the elderly.
But as long as the island remains inaccessible to tourists, and its mysterious buildings slowly destroy reliable facts, rumors will spread like the wind.
Guide to the island of Poveglia
The first thing you will see as you approach Poveglia is the bell tower. It is the most visible and one of the oldest structures on the island, other than the ruins of a 12th century church, abandoned and destroyed hundreds of years ago. In the 18th century, the tower was transformed from a bell tower into a lighthouse, and is now used only as a landmark. According to legend, it was from here that the mad doctor mentioned above threw himself.
Continuing further, you will see a strange octagonal defensive structure erected directly next to the island - this is the so-called “crystal or octagon”. It was built in the 14th century to repel Genoese attacks by the Venetians.
Having passed one side of the octagon, you find yourself in a narrow strait, above which, lost in a dense thicket of trees and bushes, rises the main building of the former psychiatric hospital. Of course, according to the Venetian authorities, the building could have been used for other purposes, but its gloomy appearance does not in any way encourage the idea of a rest home for the elderly. However, one historical documentary book says that in last years it was used as a homeless shelter.
The house was abandoned in 1968, and the island of Poveglia has been empty since then. Twenty years ago, in order to prevent complete destruction, the construction crew hastily erected scaffolding and left it there, which adds even more expressiveness to the already gloomy appearance. By the way, look at the photo below, if fishermen are so afraid of this place, then who puts nets here, evenly spaced along the concrete wall?
The function of a shelter for the poor and disadvantaged has only been fulfilled by the island of Poveglia in recent years. The first and main purpose of its existence is a quarantine station for sea travelers, one of three in the Venetian Lagoon. Lazzaretto Vecchio, the first establishment of its kind, opened in 1403, is located just a stone's throw from Poveglia.
The emergence of Lazzaretto (infirmaries) was due to urgent need. Plague and other diseases rampant in medieval Europe, especially in large shopping centers, which was Venice, presented a huge problem. And although no one had any idea about germs and infectious diseases in those days, people knew that isolating infected travelers and those who became ill could either prevent or reduce the severity of the epidemic.
According to Venetian law, travelers were required to undergo a forty-day quarantine in one of the Lazzarettos before continuing their journey and disembarking in the city. But this did not necessarily mean that the person would become infected and remain on Poveglia to await his death. Quite the contrary. Their stay was more like forced isolation: boring, although not always unpleasant. Most travelers were accommodated in separate rooms, ate well and drank often.
But during outbreaks of the black plague, one of which covered Europe in the 16th century, Poveglia really turned into hell. Everyone who had already become infected was exiled to the island, be it a commoner or a member of the nobility. It also happened when not only the sick, but also all healthy family members were sent into terrible exile. Thanks to such emergency measures, the number of victims in Venice amounted to only a third of the population, while mainland Italy lost two thirds.
In the midst of an epidemic, dying in large quantities people were put in common burial pits and burned. Undoubtedly, they are present on the island of Poveglia, although no one has undertaken to establish their location. Local historians believe that the part of the island reserved for growing crops was used for such purposes, and 50% of the soil there consists of the ashes of burnt corpses.
These are the discoveries revealed to builders digging the foundation on the neighboring island of Lazzaretto Vecchio...
But let's get back to the horror stories about the insane asylum, built in 1922, and its inhabitants. At least some of the buildings were indeed used as a hospital, as evidenced by the following inscription and window bars, almost completely swallowed up by ivy and bushes
A vague feeling of a hospital presence adds interior decoration rooms: dull, peeling paint, bunk beds and cornices torn from the walls. The picture is complemented by a small chapel with walls green with mold and broken benches, located in the same place.
Poveglia (Italian: Poveglia) is one of the most famous islands of the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy.Wiki: en:Poveglia de:Poveglia es:Poveglia it:Poveglia
This is a description of the attractions of the island of Poveglia in the Province of Venice, Veneto (Italy). As well as photos, reviews and a map of the surrounding area. Find out the history, coordinates, where it is and how to get there. Check out other places on our interactive map, get more detailed information. Get to know the world better.
There are 5 editions in total, the last one was made 4 years ago by Kashey from Podolsk
February 24th, 2014
When every person hears the word “Venice,” the same associations come to mind: gondolas, canals, water, carnival, masks... But this city is not as simple and welcoming as it seems at first glance: even it has its own mystical secrets. In the lagoon there is a small uninhabited island - Poveglia, which is guarded 24 hours a day by a marine patrol, and any outsiders are prohibited from entering there. This place is often called Bloody Island.
Why? The answer to this question must be sought in history...
Harbingers of mysterious phenomena
The island has many nicknames: “the gates of hell”, “a dump of pure fear”, “a haven of lost souls”. The Venetians are doing everything possible to refute the terrible rumors about Poveglia and cool interest in the island on the part of lovers of the mystical. They claim that they are not at all afraid of this place, and in discussions of its history they avoid the topics of a psychiatric hospital and plague epidemics. Not long ago, an article in one of the popular Venetian magazines stated that the hospital buildings dominating the area are nothing more than former rest homes for the elderly.
But as long as the island remains inaccessible to tourists, and its mysterious buildings slowly destroy reliable facts, rumors will spread like the wind.
This island was previously inhabited, and it was inhabited in the 5th century, when Italians fled here from barbarian raids. After another 900 years, fortifications were erected on Poveglia, which can still be seen when sailing close to this piece of land. Then the island ceased to interest people - the Doge offered it to the monks and for any other needs, but for some reason there were no people willing to live there.
Then the descendants of those who once inhabited Poveglia decided to rebuild the village there again, but then changed their minds, without explaining to anyone the reasons for this strange decision. For more than a century, this small piece of Venetian land was abandoned, deserted and unclaimed.
Everything changed when Europe was hit by the bubonic plague, which killed millions of people. It was then that inconspicuous Poveglia became a kind of death insulator...
Bloody Island or the last refuge
A lot has been written and said about the horrors of that time, but it is unlikely to modern man it is possible to imagine all the horror that was happening on the streets of European cities. All populated areas were littered with the bodies of dead people, spreading the stench and infection further... There was nowhere to put the dead, and then everyone remembered Poveglia again, making it a kind of isolation ward for victims of the plague. To stop the epidemic, not only corpses were brought to the island, but also living, affected people, leaving them there alone with their death, without help. People, including children and women, were thrown into pits along with their bodies or burned alive to stop the plague with fire. According to the most conservative estimates, more than 160 thousand people were forcibly killed here...
They say that this Bloody Island has not forgotten those times - the top layer of the earth consists of the ashes left after the burning of corpses, so in fact, the people who set foot there walked on corpses, and not reposed, not buried and not inveterate. Even fishermen do not dare to come close to the island, as they are afraid to find not only their catch, but also charred human bones in their nets.
Monstrous hospital for the mentally ill
Acting as an insulator, as it turned out, was the island’s destiny: in the 20th century it was again used for these purposes. In 1922, a hospital for the mentally ill was opened here, where at that time enemies of the current regime also ended up political regime Mussolini. The chief doctor of this place loved to conduct experiments on his “wards”, using latest methods cures that were more reminiscent of medieval torture.
Patients at the clinic often complained that at night they heard strange whispers, moans, crying and even screams. But who will believe the mentally ill? Some forced inhabitants of the island saw people appearing out of nowhere and burning right before their eyes, turning into a pile of ash. All these events went unnoticed until the hospital staff began to hear and see the same things as the patients. The chief doctor died two years later, falling from a bell tower, and the circumstances of his death have not yet been solved: either he committed suicide in a fit of madness, or he was thrown off by crazy people who were tired of enduring bullying.
The body of this cruel man was placed directly in the bell tower, which after that began to ring on its own, frightening everyone who was on this island. The hospital itself existed until 1968, after which all residents left the island, leaving it uninhabited. Now it is closed to tourists, and its territory is heavily guarded against unauthorized intrusion. Who is Poveglia being protected from? Or maybe the government is trying to protect people from it?
Evidence of mystical phenomena
But there are always extreme sports enthusiasts who dream of revealing the secret of Poveglia. The stories of people who risked landing on the terrible island, as a rule, coincide: being on Poveglia is invariably accompanied by an oppressive feeling of vigilant surveillance, which gradually develops into an inexplicable desire to escape as quickly as possible. Some brave souls said they saw moving shadows on the island, heard voices and screams.
In the middle of the 20th century, one fairly wealthy family received permission to visit Poveglia: they wanted to purchase the island for next to nothing in order to build there Vacation home. They planned to explore everything and spend the night there, but left before the sun rose. They did not comment on their escape, but one strange and frightening fact leaked to the newspapers: after returning, they immediately sought medical help - their daughter’s face was so disfigured that twenty stitches had to be put in. Who or what drove them off the island is unknown...
There is also “fresh” evidence. In 2007, several Americans decided to quench their thirst for adrenaline by illegally entering the scary island. They later posted a report on their journey on a blog on Myspace. Here he is:
« As we approached Poveglia, we did not feel like talking. Goosebumps crawled on the skin just looking at this place. And suddenly my friend broke the silence: “Dude, my phone isn’t working!” It turned out that he was telling the truth. All the cell phones went off – not just his. I don't mean there was no reception or anything like that. No, the phones simply switched off and we were unable to revive them. It was as if we had passed through some kind of invisible energy wall.
Finally we landed on the island. Here I must mention that I have a fairly strong psyche: I have often visited such places with a bad reputation and kept my cool. But on the island I felt creepy. It’s difficult to describe the sensations, I just felt some inexplicable evil that surrounded me. You know, when you walk through a cemetery at night or climb into houses that are rumored to be haunted, you feel like someone is watching you, and this, in general, does not bring comfort. But there was more to it than that. “This is probably how people feel when they find themselves in Hell,” my friend said, and I agreed with him. But we didn’t sneak into the protected area in order to escape in a minute, so we had to put all unpleasant feelings aside.
We made our way ashore to start exploring when the boat driver gave us a bit of a scare. I forgot to mention that he had no experience in this kind of work and simply took us to the place for a couple of hundred. So, the driver started waving his hands at us and shouting: “Come back soon! It's time to set sail! We couldn't leave him alone at our own risk - what if this guy panicked and left us on the island, so we decided to leave one of us to guard the boat.
The island turned out to be very gloomy. The silence weighed on my psyche. There were no animals, no birds, no crickets, nothing at all. It seemed that everything that was happening was unreal. We walked up to the main door and took some photos. In the light of the flash, we saw a huge room strewn with various debris. We wandered along the walls for about ten minutes, taking pictures like tourists. My friend suggested climbing inside the building, but the doors and windows were blocked by something. We continued filming the buildings and the bell tower, which, let me tell you, looked quite ominous.
And then there was a scream. It was the most terrible scream I have ever heard. We seemed rooted to the ground and were silent, trying to understand what it was. We were so shocked that we could not speak, and when one of us finally opened his mouth to make a guess, that terrible scream came again. We saw that our driver was simply beside himself with fear, so we rushed to the boat so that we would not be abandoned on this hellish island. I admit that I was also quite uneasy. And that's putting it mildly. For a while it seemed like the engine wouldn’t start, like in a horror movie, but it started and we quickly set sail from the island. These terrible screams still continued. I could not determine the source of the sound - it seemed that the scream was coming from all directions, surrounding us, and we were inside it. And then, when we sailed a little, the bell on that same bell tower began to ring loudly and clearly. This plunged us into even greater horror, because we knew that there was no bell on the tower - it was taken away when Poveglia was closed!
As soon as we moved away from the island, all our phones mysteriously turned on. And then it seemed like it burst through us: we talked and talked like crazy about what had just happened to us. When we returned to Vincenza, we immediately got down to business: we needed to take photographs and tell our story to the world. And imagine our surprise when we saw that we had caught something in the photo! It was a ghost - a clear silhouette of a man who, of course, was not on the island! I showed the photo to my friends - professional photographers, but they could not explain to me what was depicted there. Look closely and you too will see this ghostly guy.
I must also add that after this memorable journey, quite strange things began to happen to us. It was as if something had followed us from that island. Some simply felt uneasy, others suffered from terrible nightmares, and some clearly heard the sound of falling drops in their homes. They examined every inch of the apartment, checked the pipes, but found no water or leaks. And this did not happen in the same house and not with one person.
I still don’t know what secrets Poveglia hides, but I’m hesitant to call it just a “haunted island.” It seems to me that real evil lives there. Now I regret that we spent so little time there, I plan to return there again, but more prepared. I want to solve Poveglia, this is one of my goals in life.”
Guide to the island of Poveglia
The first thing you will see as you approach Poveglia is the bell tower. It is the most visible and one of the oldest structures on the island, other than the ruins of a 12th century church, abandoned and destroyed hundreds of years ago. In the 18th century, the tower was transformed from a bell tower into a lighthouse, and is now used only as a landmark. According to legend, it was from here that the mad doctor mentioned above threw himself.
Continuing further, you will see a strange octagonal defensive structure erected directly next to the island - this is the so-called “crystal or octagon”. It was built in the 14th century to repel Genoese attacks by the Venetians.
Having passed one side of the octagon, you find yourself in a narrow strait, above which, lost in a dense thicket of trees and bushes, rises the main building of the former psychiatric hospital. Of course, according to the Venetian authorities, the building could have been used for other purposes, but its gloomy appearance does not in any way encourage the idea of a rest home for the elderly. However, one historical documentary book states that in recent years it was used as a homeless shelter.
The house was abandoned in 1968, and the island of Poveglia has been empty since then. Twenty years ago, in order to prevent complete destruction, the construction crew hastily erected scaffolding and left it there, which adds even more expressiveness to the already gloomy appearance. By the way, look at the photo below, if fishermen are so afraid of this place, then who puts nets here, evenly spaced along the concrete wall?
The function of a shelter for the poor and disadvantaged has only been fulfilled by the island of Poveglia in recent years. The first and main purpose of its existence is a quarantine station for sea travelers, one of three in the Venetian Lagoon. Lazzaretto Vecchio, the first establishment of its kind, opened in 1403, is located just a stone's throw from Poveglia.
The emergence of Lazzaretto (infirmaries) was due to urgent need. The plague and other diseases that plagued medieval Europe, especially in the large trading centers of Venice, were a huge problem. And although no one had any idea about germs and infectious diseases in those days, people knew that isolating infected travelers and those who became ill could either prevent or reduce the severity of the epidemic.
According to Venetian law, travelers were required to undergo a forty-day quarantine in one of the Lazzarettos before continuing their journey and disembarking in the city. But this did not necessarily mean that the person would become infected and remain on Poveglia to await his death. Quite the contrary. Their stay was more like forced isolation: boring, although not always unpleasant. Most travelers were accommodated in separate rooms, ate well and drank often.
But during outbreaks of the black plague, one of which covered Europe in the 16th century, Poveglia really turned into hell. Everyone who had already become infected was exiled to the island, be it a commoner or a member of the nobility. It also happened when not only the sick, but also all healthy family members were sent into terrible exile. Thanks to such emergency measures, the number of victims in Venice amounted to only a third of the population, while mainland Italy lost two thirds.
At the height of the epidemic, large numbers of dying people were placed in common burial pits and burned. Undoubtedly, they are present on the island of Poveglia, although no one has undertaken to establish their location. Local historians believe that the part of the island reserved for growing crops was used for such purposes, and 50% of the soil there consists of the ashes of burnt corpses.
These are the discoveries revealed to builders digging the foundation on the neighboring island of Lazzaretto Vecchio...
But let's get back to the horror stories about the insane asylum, built in 1922, and its inhabitants. At least some of the buildings were indeed used as a hospital, as evidenced by the following inscription and the window bars, almost completely swallowed up by ivy and bushes.
The interior decoration of the room adds a vague feeling of a hospital presence: dull, peeling paint, bunk beds and cornices torn from the walls. The picture is complemented by a small chapel with walls green with mold and broken benches, located in the same place.
The boundaries between internal and external space have been practically erased by time: the floor beams have collapsed, the ceiling and window openings have been covered with a dense wall of wicker.
The floor of one of the rooms is covered by one and a half centimeters with a thick carpet of book pages. Strange…
Tricky play on words...
In addition to living rooms, the fact that Poveglia was a hospital facility is evidenced by domestic premises, for example, an industrial kitchen and a laundry.
A little further away, behind the hospital walls, there are several houses, probably for staff accommodation. It may very well be that one of them actually belonged to the “crazy” doctor.
Poveglia IslandThe uninhabited island of Poveglia is located next to Venice and is guarded by maritime patrols around the clock. Local fishermen call it Bloody Island. Swimming to its shores is strictly prohibited. On the island itself there is a ghost town with dilapidated buildings.
The first mention of this island dates back to 421, when the inhabitants of Padua and Este fled here to escape the invasion of barbarians led by the Ostrogoth king Totila. On the island, refugees found a safe haven, their village grew and prospered.
In 1379, during the war between the Venetian and Genoese republics, the island of Poveglia was shelled by the Genoese fleet. Then the Venetian government ordered the construction of a permanent fortification on the island to protect the entrance to the lagoon, while the inhabitants were forcibly relocated to other places.
At the end of the 18th century, the island became a quarantine station for sailors. Before landing in Venice, they were quarantined there for forty days. This procedure was necessary and carried out in order to combat the bubonic plague epidemic in Europe.
Fighting the Plague
Back in the Middle Ages, the island of Poveglia began to be used as a place of exile for plague patients. For fear of the spread of the epidemic, the authorities sent tens of thousands of citizens there who showed even the slightest signs of illness. For people it was a death sentence. There were no exceptions for anyone: neither for commoners, nor for representatives of the nobility and their families.
Fact: “The corpses of people who died on the island were burned there in the flames of giant bonfires.”
The plague came to Venice more than once. In 1575-1577, 50 thousand people died from the epidemic, which accounted for more than a quarter of the city's population. Then it was decided to bring both the dead and those who could be carriers of the disease to the island of Poveglia. Living people, including children and infants, were taken there and thrown into pits next to rotting corpses. Sometimes they were burned alive along with the dead.
In 1630, the bubonic plague came to the city again. People began to be taken to the island and burned again. The authorities tried to stop the spread of the disease with such cruel measures. This ensured that the total number of victims in the city amounted to only a third of the population, while the whole of Italy lost two thirds.
Fact: “In just a few centuries, more than 160,000 people died and were burned on the island.”
Damn place
According to local residents The soil on the island of Poveglia is mixed with ash and dust, and its top layer practically consists of the remains of human bodies. Fishermen avoid its surroundings if possible, since from time to time human bones, charred and polished by the waves, still get caught in their nets.
This place has given rise to many rumors and legends. No one risked building buildings on this long-suffering land. In 1527, after the first outbreak of the epidemic, the Camaldolian monks were offered land on the island practically for nothing, but they refused. In 1661, the authorities tried to restore the village for the descendants of the island's once resettled inhabitants, but they also refused to move.
In 1777, the island of Poveglia became a checkpoint for cargo and passenger ships. In 1793, several cases of plague were again recorded on ships, and carriers of the dangerous disease were kept on the island. In 1814, due to the cessation of outbreaks of plague, the island was no longer used as a quarantine zone, and the infirmary on it was closed. The island again became uninhabited for more than 100 years.
Mysticism on Poveglia Island
In 1922, by order of the Venetian authorities, the buildings remaining on the island were converted into a mental hospital. Later, mentally healthy people, enemies of Mussolini’s fascist regime, began to be sent there.
However, the hospital did not operate in normal mode for long, as a series of terrible events soon began on the island. So the chief doctor had pronounced sadistic tendencies and began to conduct cruel experiments on patients - for example, hand drills and hammers were used for lobotomies, while all operations on the skull were carried out without anesthesia.
Soon after the opening of the hospital, patients began to talk about how they constantly heard incomprehensible whispers, moans and crying coming from the walls of the hospital. Many on the island saw ghostly people who seemed to burn and turn into a pile of ash. At first, the patients’ stories were not given any importance, but soon the clinic staff and the head doctor himself began to observe the shadows and voices of plague victims who died in agony.
A few years later, the head doctor of the hospital died under strange circumstances. He unexpectedly climbed onto the bell tower and threw himself down. One of the nurses who witnessed the disaster stated in her testimony that after the fall the doctor was alive and died not from bruises, but from a strange white fog. This fog rose from the ground and entered the body of the unfortunate man, taking his life.
The deceased doctor was buried by the patients of the hospital: his body was laid with bricks in the wall of the bell tower. After this, the hanging bell suddenly began to ring on its own at night. Concerned people turned to the authorities for help. The bell was removed, but sometimes at night its ringing could still be heard.
The hospital existed on the island of Poveglia until the 1960s. After its closure, the authorities prohibited the construction of any structures for tourists on the island.
Present day
On the island, a bell tower and dilapidated hospital buildings with bars on the windows, old beds and fragments of household and medical equipment have been preserved to this day.
Thrill-seekers come here from time to time. They say that no birds or insects can be heard on the island, while from time to time moans and screams are heard near the buildings, and unclear shadows flash in the air. People experience an oppressive feeling of constant surveillance, which gradually develops into a desire to escape from here. Sometimes in photographs taken on the island, one can discern mysterious dark silhouettes resembling human figures.
In 2007, several Americans visited Poveglia Island. They said that after disembarking, the mobile phones immediately went dark and turned off. Tourists approached the buildings in the dark and took some pictures. Suddenly a terrible scream was heard. They immediately rushed to the boat. In the photographs they took, they discovered the silhouette of a man whom they had not seen near the buildings. This silhouette was transparent, and through it one could see the details of the landscape.