Located just off the coast of the incredible and hugely popular city of Venice lies an island with a far darker history, one a world away from the bustling floating city.
Poveglia is a small island just off the Italian coast and is shrouded in mystery and stories of ghosts.
Made up of three small islands – two of which are natural – Poveglia now lies completely abandoned and has frequently featured on paranormal shows. The smallest is an octagon, used as a small fort to protect Venice, built around 1645 on orders from the Venetian government.
For over a century, beginning in the 1770s, the island was used as a quarantine station for those suffering from the plague and other diseases. It later became a mental hospital, which closed in 1968. It has remained empty ever since.
In 1776 the island became a checkpoint for goods and people coming to and from Venice by ship. However, in 1793 there were several cases of the plague on two ships and so the island was transformed into a temporary quarantine zone. This role became permanent under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte and continued until 1814.
Then, in 1922, the existing buildings were converted into a psychiatric hospital and was later used as a nursing home or long-term care facility until its closure.
While efforts to redevelop the island into a luxury hotel have been made, including bids from Italian businessman and now mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro, who planned to invest 20 million euros in a restoration plan, the island remains vacant.
The surviving buildings on the island consist of a cavana (boat shelter), a church, a hospital, an asylum, a bell tower, housing, and administrative buildings for the staff. The bell tower is the most visible structure on the island and dates back to the 12th century. It was later converted into a lighthouse.
The island was sealed off, leading to legends of terminally ill Venetians waiting to die before their ghosts returned to haunt the island. According to a 2014 report by the Travel Channel, a doctor who allegedly experimented on patients with crude lobotomies jumped from the bell tower in the 1930s after claiming he had been driven mad by ghosts.
Decades later, nearby residents claimed to still hear the bell despite the fact that it had been removed many years earlier. The report, titled “Haunted History,” also stated that some restoration work had started but “abruptly stopped without explanation.”
In 2023, an Irish YouTuber, Dara Tah, explored the island overnight to search for traces of paranormal activity. He allegedly received some words in Italian on the radio, including “leave,” “incident,” and “exploded,” but he denied the existence of any ghosts.
Another eerie aspect of the island is the existence of one or more plague pits. An estimate published by National Geographic suggested that over 100,000 people died on the island over the centuries and were buried in these mass graves.
Visits to Poveglia Island are illegal, as the Italian government prohibits access. Only those with special permission, typically granted only for research or filming purposes, are allowed to visit.
To get there, people need to hire a private boat over to the island, as no public ferries run from Venice.