Discover San Michele Cemetery Island

San Michele is a rectangular walled island in the northern lagoon, roughly halfway between Fondamente Nove and Murano -- close enough to the city that the crossing takes about ten minutes, far enough that it is unmistakably separate.

Its edges are the striking part. A continuous brick wall runs around the whole perimeter at the waterline, with cypresses rising above it, so from a passing vaporetto the island reads as a solid green-and-red block on the water rather than as a place with an interior.

The island's flatness and enclosure make it silent in a way little of Venice is. There is no through traffic, because nothing lies beyond it -- boats pass around rather than through, and the only arrivals are people coming here specifically.

Its shape is not original. San Michele and the neighbouring island of San Cristoforo were separate until the canal between them was filled in the 19th century to make room for the cemetery, so the island visitors walk today is two islands joined.