San Servolo Island

From "island of Mads", a place of social segregation, a citadel of the study and research: in the space of a quarter of a century, a massive intervention before protection, then recovery finally restructuring, has transformed the island of San Servolo.
The island is one of the most beautiful lagoon of Venice. It is located between San Lazzaro degli Armeni and San Clemente, ten minutes by boat from Piazza San Marco. All hours of the day the island is connected to the historic center of Venice by vaporetto ACTV, the company's lagoon transport. A vast complex of buildings characterize the island of San Servolo, which for a millennium it was the seat monastic and later hosted the mentally ill until 1978, when the reform of psychiatry led to the closure of the hospital. The island covers an area of ​​4.82 hectares, nearly ten times that of the original sand dune determined by the evolution of the geological natural lagoon area. The territorial expansion has taken place over the past centuries by man, by necessity of new buildings as well as for the construction, more and more extended, the park, the vegetable gardens and cemeteries. The island's history can be divided into two great periods, each characterized by the presence of religious structures: the monastic period and hospital period. Thanks to consult the available material at the Fatebenefratelli and the Imperial Order of the Friars Conventual Provincial Archives archives, Brother A. Riboldi of St. John of God Fathers or Fatebenefratelli, has collected and summarized the most significant events that occurred the island of San Servolo 810 per year from the year 1862. This exceptional source that reconstructs the history is preserved in the Archives of Venice patriarchal seminary.