Overview

• Poveglia per Tutti won a six-year renewable lease from the Italian national land agency after raising €460,000 through a “€99 for 99 years” community campaign.
• The University of Verona will oversee environmental and social impact monitoring as activists start restoring the island’s northern section into a lagoon urban park.
• Organizers have begun community outreach and preparatory work despite the island’s lack of electricity, running water and a suitable boat dock.
• The park will offer Venetians a refuge from about 30 million annual tourists while preserving Poveglia’s legacy as a plague burial ground and former psychiatric hospital.
• The initiative complements Venice’s broader tourism controls, including cruise ship bans and a €5 access fee, aimed at protecting the lagoon ecosystem.