Lesser-Known Islands of the Venice Lagoon

The Venice Lagoon stretches across 550 square kilometres and contains 118 islands, yet the vast majority of visitors see only Venice itself and the popular trio of Murano, Burano, and Torcello. Scattered across the lagoon are dozens of smaller islands, each with its own distinct character and history, that reward visitors willing to venture beyond the standard itinerary. San Michele is the cemetery island, visible from the Fondamente Nove waterfront as a walled enclosure of dark cypresses rising from the water. Designed by Renaissance architect Mauro Codussi, who built the elegant Chiesa di San Michele in Isola in 1469 (one of the earliest Renaissance facades in Venice), the island became the city's sole burial ground under Napoleonic decree in 1807. It is the final resting place of composer Igor Stravinsky, ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, and poet Ezra Pound. The island is accessible on Vaporetto Lines 4.1 and 4.2 (the same boats that continue to Murano), and visiting is free. The atmosphere is contemplative: rows of graves amid cypress and laurel, the sound of water lapping at the surrounding walls. San Lazzaro degli Armeni is home to an Armenian Catholic monastery that has operated continuously since 1717, when the Republic granted the island to the Armenian monk Mekhitar of Sebastia. The monastery houses one of the world's finest collections of Armenian manuscripts, a printing press that has been active for three centuries, and a room where the poet Lord Byron studied Armenian language and literature during the winter of 1816-1817. Visits are by guided tour only (daily at 3:25pm), reached by Vaporetto Line 20 from San Zaccaria. Sant'Erasmo, the largest island in the lagoon after Venice itself, is known locally as "the garden of Venice." Its flat, fertile fields have supplied the Rialto market with produce for centuries. The island is particularly famous for its castraure, tender purple artichokes harvested in April that command premium prices at Venetian restaurants. Sant'Erasmo feels almost rural: no cars (like the rest of the lagoon), but also few tourists, with long dirt paths, vineyards, and a 16th-century defensive tower, the Torre Massimiliana, that now serves as an exhibition space. Vaporetto Line 13 from Fondamente Nove. Lazzaretto Nuovo served as a quarantine station for ships arriving in Venice from the 15th century onward, part of the Republic's pioneering public health infrastructure. The word "quarantine" itself derives from the Venetian quarantena, the 40-day isolation period imposed on suspect vessels. Today the island operates as an archaeological park, with excavations revealing layers of quarantine-era history. Open for guided visits on weekends from spring through autumn. San Francesco del Deserto is a tiny island between Burano and Sant'Erasmo, home to a Franciscan monastery since the 13th century. According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi himself stopped on the island in 1220 on his return from the Fifth Crusade. The monastery, shaded by centuries-old cypress trees, is still home to a small community of friars who welcome visitors for free guided tours. A private boat from Burano (about 5 EUR, arranged at the Burano dock) is the only way to reach it. Archaeological research has revealed Bronze Age settlements along the lagoon fringe, indicating that human habitation of this coastal wetland predates Venice by millennia. The lagoon islands, taken together, offer a layered history that extends far deeper than the medieval and Renaissance narratives most visitors encounter.