Sant'Erasmo, Venice

Sant'Erasmo is a cultivated lagoon island, with fields, orchards, vineyards, canals, and quiet shore paths making up its visible character. Venice has long relied on its harvest: the island is known for tender violet artichokes and early-picked castraure, and its produce earned it the affectionate title “vegetable garden of Venice.” In the late Middle Ages, this shore served as a modest harbour for Torcello and Murano.

A chronicle from 1032 records a church dedicated to Ermete and Erasmo, saints associated with sailors. Later, changing sands turned the former sea-facing shore into an inner lagoon island, and farming replaced its maritime importance. At the southern tip, the round Massimiliana Tower rises from the foundations of a French fort.

Built from 1843 to 1844 for Archduke Maximilian of Austria, it is enclosed by a ditch and still survives. The island’s lanes invite a calm walk beside cultivated ground and water, while wading birds feed on nearby sandbanks. Sant'Erasmo remains an unusual lagoon island where cars still travel.