Lazzaretto Vecchio

Lazzaretto Vecchio

File:Isola Lazzaretto Vecchio from the air.jpg Aerial view of Lazzaretto Vecchio
Location in the Venetian Lagoon
Geography
Coordinates
Adjacent bodies of water	Venetian Lagoon
Area
Country
Italy
Region	Veneto
Province	Province of Venice

The Lazzaretto Vecchio is an island of the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, located near the Lido of Venice. Between 1403 and 1630 it housed a hospital which cared for people during the plague epidemics and as a leprosarium. It was later used, as were other islands, as a military post. It covers an area 2.53 hectares (6.3 acres) large.

Since 2004 archaeologists have unearthed more than 1500 skeletons of plague victims buried here between the 15th and 17th centuries. These have been found in individual as well as in mass graves. The remains of thousands more are expected still to be found on the small island as the death-toll reportedly reached 500 per day in the 16th century.

Gallery

• Lazzaretto Vecchio 2015, 01.JPG

  Main entrance

• Lazzaretto Vecchio 2015, 02.JPG

  The staff building

• Lazzaretto Vecchio 2015, 03.JPG

  Panorama of the Lazzaretto buildings

• Lazzaretto Vecchio 2015, 06.JPG

  The hospital for the nobles

• Lazzaretto Vecchio 2015, 07.JPG

  Inside one of the galleries

See also

• Lazaretto
• Leper Colony