Venice islands: San Servolo

San Servolo island, owned by the Province of Venice, is situated at the south of Venice, at an equal distance from Sant'Elena and the Lido. This is one of the closest islands to the historic centre of the town. By taking the Grand Canal towards the Lido, the island can immediately been seen on the right.

It is not exactly known when the island was inhabited for the first time, but in the 8th century, a group of Benedictine monks came to the island, where they found a church dedicated to Saint Christopher. The Benedictines built a new church and a convent, dedicating them to the Trieste martyr San Servilio. The island's name is therefore a deformation of the Saint's name.
In 819 some of the monks were transferred to Sant'Ilario, whilst the others remained on the island until 1109. When Malamocco was destroyed by the terrifying seaquake in 1106, the nuns escaped from the convents of Saints Leone and Basso, and found refuge in Sant'Ilario and San Servolo. The Doge Ziani helped these communities with the income he received from the houses he owned at Rialto.
At the beginning of 1600, the Benedictine nuns asked to leave the island, as the buildings were by then falling down and uninhabitable and in 1615 they were transferred to the convent of Santa Maria dell'Umiltà (which used to be where the Salute church is now built).
In 1648 the Ottomans occupied Candia and turned two hundred nuns off the island, belonging to various religious orders. The Serenissima Senate received them on San Servolo and granted them, for restoration of the buildings and for the upkeep of the community, 1500 ducats per year, besides the possibility of continuing their religious rites, no matter what the order involved.

In 1715, only four nuns were left and in 1725, the island was handed over by the Republic to the Hospital Fathers of San Giovanni di Dio. Between 1734 and 1749 they erected a new church, a convent and a hospital (designed by the architect Giovanni Scalfarotto, uncle of Temanza). Following this, the island received and cared for the mentally ill.
Before the fall of the Republic, the hospital was reserved for noble or wealthy families, but after 1797 it was opened to everybody; from 1837 it was reserved exclusively for male patients, while the female patients were transferred, initially in 1834 to San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti, then in 1837 to San Clemente. After the suppression of the orders, the Fathers remained to run the hospital until 1902.
In 1936, the psychiatric hospitals of San Servolo and San Clemente were taken over by the Province, which ran them until 1978, when - after the psychiatric reforms - the San Servolo unit was closed. For a while the island was the seat of the International Oncology Centre and then, when hospital activities ceased, it returned to provincial administration.

The psychiatric hospital buildings were restored, and since 1980 have been used by the "European Training Centre for Artisans for the conservation of Architectural Assets", which was created in 1977 by the "Pro Venetia Viva" foundation, with the objective of organising training courses for European artisans who would then be involved in the recovery of Venice. In 1995, following an increase in their field of action, the "Pro Venetia Viva" foundation was transformed into "European Foundation for Building Professions" and the centre then became the "European Centre for Professions for the Conservation of Architectural Assets". The activities on the island involved training courses for conserving architecture in stone, wood, iron and malt and intensive courses for leaning the special professions using marble, wrought iron, stucco and the art of frescoes.
Today the island hosts in the old hospital and other buildings the "Venice International University", a centre for post-graduate students and research.
The island can be reached by water bus number 20 that leaves from Riva degli Schiavoni.

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