San Servolo sɛrvolois an Italian island in the

Venetian Lagoon The Venetian Lagoon (; ) is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea, in northern Italy, in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Italian and Venetian languages, ' (cognate of Latin ' ), has provided the English name for an enclosed, ...

, to the southeast of

San Giorgio Maggiore San Giorgio Maggiore () is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The island, or more specifically its Palladian church, is an important landmark. It has been much painted, ...

. Earlier housing a monastery of Benedictine monks, later an asylum for the insane, the island is now home to a museum and Venice International University.

History

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks lived on this island from at least the eighth century and for almost five hundred years. They were joined later by nuns escaping from the convents of Saints Leone and Basso on the island of Malamocco, which had been destroyed by a

seaquake A submarine, undersea, or underwater earthquake is an earthquake that occurs underwater at the bottom of a body of water, especially an ocean. They are the leading cause of tsunamis. The magnitude can be measured scientifically by the use of the ...

. At the beginning of the 15th century, the nuns departed, but they were soon replaced by a few dozen other nuns, who were fleeing the Turkish invasion of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. However, by the beginning of the eighteenth century, only a few were left, and soon thereafter the Senate of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

designated San Servolo as the site of a new military hospital, needed due to the continuing war against the Turks. Later the hospital was used to care for the mentally ill. In 1978, government-instituted reforms of psychiatric treatment resulted in the closure of the hospital. The next year, the Venice government established on the island the "Istituto per le Ricerche e gli Studi sull'Emarginazione Sociale e Culturale" (Institute for the Study of Social and Cultural Marginalization) to preserve the documents associated with the history of the psychiatric hospital. Venice International University, a center for research and education and a collaboration among ten universities from around the world, was formed on San Servolo in 1995. Since 2012, the island has been home to the Ca'Foscari International College, a state-funded honours college aimed at students from multilingual and multicultural backgrounds. Also noteworthy is the rich flora of San Servolo, originally planted for the island's pharmacy, which was used to supply medicine to the military.

Arts and letters

Recently, San Servolo has started hosting an annual international artist residency and has become the site for numerous exhibitions, festivals and performances.

Gallery

File:Isola di san servolo 2.jpg, Buildings of the Benedictines File:San Servolo (lagune de Venise) (6382196291).jpg File:SAN SERVOLO.JPG File:Isola di San Servolo in Venice 002.jpg File:San Servolo (lagune de Venise) (3752627217).jpg File:Isola di San Servolo (Venise) (5045491248).jpg

References

External links

Official page of San Servolo

Venice International University

Google Satellite Map of Isola di San Servolo
{{Authority control Islands of the Venetian Lagoon