The Lazzaretto Vecchio, the first stable plague hospital founded in Venice six hundred years ago this year, was open for guided visits this weekend.
The Lazzaretto Vecchio is not normally open to the public.
The island will become the National Archaeological Museum for the Venetian Lagoon, but the project is still in a very early stage. Many of the buildings are at risk of collapse, and it will cost millions before the island and the museum can open.
Below some photos from the open day on the Lazzaretto Vecchio.
Photos from the visits
The visits were guided, and following a predetermined route because many of the buildings on the island are not safe. Only some parts of the island were therefore open for visitors.
Backstage
All in all it took about ten persons to handle a weekend of visits to the Lazzaretto Vecchio, between guides, reception and sailors.
Since the island is an island, we needed a boat to ferry the visitors across.
All in all some 600-700 persons visited the island on the two open days. At the same time we had over two hundred guests on the Lazzaretto Nuovo, which is regularly open for visitors.
The museum building site
Half the island is a building site for the future museum, but being weekend nobody was there working.
This part of the Lazzaretto Vecchio was not open for visitors, but I went to have a look anyway during our lunch break.
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