Isola del Lazzaretto Nuovo

Lazzaretto Nuovo preserves the remains of a Venetian quarantine station in the northern lagoon. Its warehouses, wall inscriptions and later military works connect the history of commerce with the Republic's attempts to control contagion.

Why it matters

Established by a Senate decree in 1468, the island received people and goods suspected of carrying disease. It complemented Lazzaretto Vecchio, which treated plague sufferers. The separation of these functions illustrates the development of Venetian public-health administration.

What to notice

The Tezon Grande was a warehouse for the treatment and airing of merchandise. Its inscriptions preserve names, dates and references to ships and trading activity. Powder stores and fortified walls belong to the island's later military use. Saltmarshes around the enclosure place the built remains within a tidal lagoon environment.

Context and history

Recorded in 1015 as Vigna Murada, the island later belonged to the Benedictines of San Giorgio Maggiore. After its sanitary role declined, Napoleonic and Austrian administrations adapted it for defence. Twentieth-century recovery and archaeological investigation added a conservation phase to this layered history.