Lazzaretto Novo

As Death in Venice readers will recall, Venice was continuously haunted by disease, especially after the Black Death halved the population in 1348.

By the mid 15th century, the ill or suspected ill were sent to the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, while this island, the 'New Lazzaretto', became the place where thousands of ships' crews and passengers at a time would spend 40 days after sailing into the lagoon, lodged in a hundred rooms (all en-suite with their own kitchens, a great innovation for the day) with doctors constantly doing the rounds, examining them for signs of any infectous disease that would send them to the dread Lazzarretto Veccchio.

Apparently the food was good, and many looked upon their stay at Lazzaretto Novo as a chance to rest and relax after the trials at sea.

Here too all suspect cargo, all the fabrics and spices coming into the city, were quarantined and fumigated, inside the enormous Tezon Grande warehouse, stretching over 100m long —least known of the wonders of Venice, and still bearing centuries-old graffiti of stuck passengers and porters.