Locals in popular Italian destination buy 'Island of Death' to escape tourists

Daily Mail​

25-07-2025

Locals in Venice have taken some very decisive action against over-tourism in the Lagoon City, by purchasing an island that's only for them - with just one catch, it has a very creepy past.
Poveglia, a speck of land between Venice and its Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, is set to become an idyll for those who live in the popular Italian city break destination...but need their own break from the 30 million tourists who pour in annually.
Next month will see an activist group Poveglia per Tutti (Poveglia for Everyone) start to transform a section of the island into an island playground for Venetians.
With a six-year lease in place, the group says it will prevent development on Poveglia, preserving it for Venetiaans.
The island has a dark backstory though; it was known as the 'Island of Death' thanks to the role it played as a quarantine station for people suffering from the plague in the 1700s.
It's thought that around 160,000 people lost their lives on the tiny isle as the Black Death ravaged Italy in the 18th century.
Venice's population has dwindled in recent years with factors such as an ageing demographic and locals leaving the city contributing to the falling residency - there are currently just over 48,000 people who call the city their permanent home.
The city introduced its tourist tax last year, charging tourists five euros per person to visit the fragile lagoon city during peak times - and cruise ships can no longer dock close to the city, with passengers now docked miles away and bussed in.
Poveglia is made up of three islands, one of the three is given over to nature, one was used as a fort to defend the island and the main island houses Poveglia's creepy abandoned buildings.
There's a deserted hospital and a prison which many believe are haunted. These derelict buildings are the reason why tourists have been forbidden from visiting Poveglia as their decrepit state makes them dangerous to explore.
A few exceptions on the ban have been granted for filmmakers.
Although Poveglia was once home to a small community, it was first abandoned in the 14th century due to conflict. And a few centuries later, it was to become hell on earth.
In the late 1700s, those showing any symptoms of the deadly Black Death were taken there, often against their will.
It wasn't long before the 18-acre island became a mass grave site and it's thought that 160,000 plague victims were buried there.
Many people believe that as much as 50 per cent of the island's soil today is made up of ash and the decomposed bodies of those who died there.
Legend says that the island is haunted by those who passed away in Poveglia. The island later housed an asylum before being completed deserted.
Despite the ban, British explorers Matt Nadin and Andy Thompson managed to travel to the island in 2020, and shared what they found on their YouTube channel, Finders Beepers History Seekers.
Matt told viewers: 'The island is so full of dark, dark history, a hell of a lot of people died there and you really get a sense of the horrors that took place there while you're walking around.
'They burnt all the bodies and left them where they lay. The island has never really been cleared properly or anything so everything has just been left.
'Later on, when it was turned into an asylum, and because people were shoved there out of the way of prying eyes, they started to do experiments on them, horrible, horrible stuff.'
Despite its dark past, Matt said it was still possible to tell from the site's tiles and archways that it would once have been a 'beautiful building'.
And the pair added that it was easy to tell that no one had visited Poveglia in years, as there was no graffiti on the island, just 'natural decay'.
Matt revealed that the pair 'heard the bell toll' while they were there and adds 'that did actually freak me out a little bit'.
But Poveglia is far from the world's only abandoned island.
The world might know the Maldives for its picture-postcard villas, turquoise waters, and once-in-a-lifetime luxury escapes.
But one island in the middle of this tropical paradise tells a completely different story - one of decay, mystery and ambitious plans left abandoned.
In a video uploaded to YouTube in 2023, Australian filmmaker and surfer Kale Brock explained that while on the retreat in the Maldives, he and his group had spotted a 'mysterious' island in the distance and convinced their guide to take them there.
What they discovered was straight out of a movie - more Jurassic Park than five-star luxury getaway.