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 The hospital on Poveglia | |
  Poveglia | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45°22′55″N 12°19′52″E / 45.381944°N 12.331111°E |
| Adjacent to | Venetian Lagoon |
| Administration | |
| Region | Veneto |
| Province | Province of Venice |
Poveglia (/poʊˈvɛliə/ poh-VEL-ee-ə; Italian: [poˈveʎʎa]) is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, of northern Italy. A small canal divides the island into two separate parts. The island first appears in the historical record in 421, and was populated until the residents fled warfare in 1379. For more than 100 years beginning in 1776, the island was used as a quarantine station for those suffering the plague and other diseases, and later as a mental hospital. The mental hospital closed in 1968, and the island has been vacant ever since. Because of its history, the island is frequently featured on paranormal shows.
Visits to the island are prohibited, but various books and articles report on visits by writers and/or photographers. Believers in the paranormal have claimed that Poveglia is the most haunted island, or the most haunted place in the world.