TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Poveglia, an uninhabited island in Venice, Italy, is set to become a public lagoon park for the locals. The island has been abandoned for years, yet local residents are striving to safeguard it from commercial development.
Poveglia is located off the coast of Venice. The 7.5-hectare island has been off-limits to the public for decades. According to circulating rumors, the island is haunted, but these rumors may have a historical basis.
The History of Poveglia
As quoted from CNN, the island was initially inhabited by farmers and fishers and was established as a Roman military base in 421 CE. However, in the 18th century, the island served as a maritime quarantine dock for merchant ships arriving from abroad and for people showing symptoms of the plague.
The agricultural buildings and military barracks on the island were converted into asylums, where the sick lived together and received treatment.
Venetian historians estimate that over 160,000 people were buried on the island between the 18th and 19th centuries due to the outbreaks.
Then, in the 19th century, Poveglia became an asylum for mentally ill people, who were often restrained and subjected to experimental treatments. The asylum was closed in 1968, and since then, the island has since remained uninhabited.
Locals' Struggle to Preserve the Island
What remains on the island now are overgrown woodland, a military fortress, 15 dilapidated hospital buildings, and a sizable rabbit colony. The Italian government put the island up for auction with a price tag of £400,000, equivalent to around Rp9 billion. Not wanting the island to fall into the hands of developers, a group of Venetian residents launched a campaign to protect the island from commercial development.
The group, named "Poveglia For Everyone" (PFE), has 4,500 members. They appealed to Venetian residents to donate money to preserve and protect the island from commercial development. They plan to turn the island into an oasis for residents seeking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city during peak tourist seasons.
Patrizia Veclani, one of the founders of Poveglia for Everyone, stated that they would invest £460,000, or around Rp8.8 billion, and a community filled with highly skilled professionals into developing the island.
"Nature has reclaimed it. But with the advice of botanists we are considering what appropriate plants can be reinstated," she said, as quoted from Daily Mail.
PFE stated that they are collaborating with the University of Verona to transform the northern part of the island into an open city lagoon park for residents. This includes respecting the ecosystem and landscape elements that are characteristic of the lagoon. However, the group may face a tough struggle to regenerate the island, as there is currently no water or electricity, and no suitable docks.