Sant’Erasmo Site Features

The artichoke

The carciofo violetto, and particularly the castraure -- the first apical bud cut from each plant in spring, which forces the others to grow. Sold for a few weeks only, and the island holds a festival for it in May.

Torre Massimiliana

The circular Austrian fort of the 1840s, restored and used for exhibitions and the artichoke festival.

The open horizon

Flat fields, ditches, vines and the lagoon on every side, with Venice a low silhouette to the south-west. There is nowhere else this close to the city that looks like this.

The lagoon edge

The island's margins are salt marsh and mudflat -- the barene that make up most of the real lagoon and that visitors to Venice almost never see.