It can be glimpsed looking at the Venetian lagoon from the Lido coast, it is not far from the island of Poveglia and is very close to the two largest San Clemente and Isola delle Rose, today respectively home to the hotels of
luxury San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice and Jw Marriott Venice Resort.
A jewel on sale for 9 million
The island of Santo Spirito is on sale for 9 million euros (plus VAT). The auction for “irrevocable purchase offers” is already open and potential buyers have until June 25th to come forward. She appeared on the market after, for a few years, there had been discussions about her recovery for residential use. One of the recent chapters ofislet just under 24 thousand square meters large and which has its roots in the twelfth century.
In Santo Spirito they lived religious until Napoleonplundering the church and monastery, gave the island to the Navy and made it a military garrison.
During the war it became a powder magazine
During the Second World War it became a powder keg and then ended up abandoned but not forgotten. The mandate for the sale of this plot of land in the heart of the Venice lagoon is in the hands of the Quimmo Agency of Faenza on behalf of Poveglia Srl, the Paduan company in voluntary liquidation which between 2002 and 2003 had purchased the property for 350 thousand euros. ‘island from military state property. The first (unsuccessful) transfer attempt dates back to 2011, when the group of entrepreneurs from Padua had entrusted themselves to Colliers International. At the time, the permitted uses were residential, hospitality, hotel and office. There was therefore also the possibility of transforming the lot into a prestigious hotel after a consolidation intervention on what remained of the old convent.
Green light for residential permits
In 2014, the recovery plan for which the Padua company received approval from the Municipality of Venice opened the possibility of realizing on the island a residential complex with the settlement of almost 150 people. An opportunity which, after ten years, is included in the current offer of
sale. It was expected renovation of a bunkerthe reconstruction of the pre-nineteenth century buildings for 3,477 square meters, the restoration of the six remaining buildings and other minor interventions including the construction of an elevator and the refurbishment of four anti-aircraft positions. The announcement is now online it also refers to the construction of “technological networks, routes and landing places for both the private and public sectors. Finally, the Territorial Planning Plan provides for the creation of a dock for the future inhabitants of the island”.
Monks driven out by Napoleon, then the friars who fled the war
The name of the long canal that runs alongside it is due to the island of Santo Spirito. The oldest attestations concerning it date back to 1140, when the Canons Regular had their seat there. In 1380 the monks were expelled from the island where the Cistercians arrived and, less than a century later, it was the turn of the Eremitani, in 1430. They rebuilt the church based on Sansovino’s design, embellishing it with canvases by Palma il Vecchio and Titian. When in 1656 Pope Alexander VII suppressed the order of the Hermits, and sold the assets for a million ducats, all the works of art were transported to the Salute, and Santo Spirito ended up host the apostolic nunciosie visiting ambassadors. Venice later lost Candia (Crete) and a congregation of friars who fled the war landed on the island, safe until the island passed to the French. Then the decline and abandonment which today Poveglia Srl is once again trying to turn around.
