Poveglia: the island of the dead

Poveglia is a small island located in the Lagoon of Venice marked by stories as sad as creepy. It is also known as The Island of No Return or The Island of the Dead, for those who were confined there never returned. Not even their dead bodies. In fact, today, the surf still carries charred human remains. The visit to this place is forbidden and there are no boats that sail towards its shores. Anyway, most people do not dare to visit her ... then we tell you why.

At the beginning of the Renaissance (XIV), Europe suffered the worst pandemic in human history, the Black Bubonic Plague. In Venice, a very humid place and with a constant coming and going of merchants, the plague was especially devastating. The streets of the city were filled with large piles of corpses that invaded the atmosphere of death and putrefaction. The number of victims grew at a frenetic pace and the space became smaller and smaller.

Before this panorama, the authorities of the city and the clergy decided to take the following measure: to transfer the corpses to the island of Poveglia. And not just the corpses. Any suspected plague was quarantined on the island. Sometimes they were burned alive, while others were left to their fate among the piles of corpses. It is said that from the city of Venice the lamentations of the dying sick could be heard. Every day 500 people came to the island, where in a few years more than 160,000 people died. During centuries and later epidemics, it continued being used like cemetery and crematorium, of there its nickname of the island of the dead.

In 1922 they built a psychiatric hospital. Unsurprisingly, the fate of the new "tenants" was not much better than that of those affected with bubonic plague. Without anesthesia and with such rudimentary tools as hand drills, chisels and hammers, psychiatrists practiced their chilling "healing techniques" with the mentally ill.

After many years, the director of the clinic began to go crazy. As if it were a vengeance, he saw and heard the spirits of those who had been tortured in their hands. One fine day he climbed the bell tower and jumped. That event was the end of the psychiatric, which became the property of the state. According to local legends, the spirit of the doctor continues among the bricks of the belfry and some nights you hear the ringing of the bell across the bay.

Today, 50% of the surface soil of the island is composed of ashes and human remains and the surf still drags charred human remains to the shore. Rightly so, it is one of the favorite destinations for those who love paranormal phenomena, who come clandestinely in the hope of seeing or hearing ghosts. The venues of the city of Venice tell us that through the corridors of the ancient ruined hospital, moving shadows are seen and the cries and moans of the tortured are heard.

When the hospital closed, the island remained abandoned for a period of 50 years. Then, on May 7, 2014, it was auctioned through the Internet. An Italian businessman, Luigi Brugnaro, signed a lease on the island for 99 years, with the intention of developing some public service. Now, the only thing that is known, is that the company Young Architects has launched a contest inviting architects to present ideas for a university campus in Poveglia.

The hospital will soon be shot down, however, from time to time, the swell will continue to bring the memory of those who never returned.

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References:
La Voz del Muro