Venice is full of surprises. Beyond Murano and Burano, the lagoon hides peaceful islands where life feels slower and more authentic.
Here are the hidden Venice islands you can visit to experience the quieter side of the lagoon.
In addition, most of them are quiet even during peak season.
🍇 Mazzorbo – The Quiet Island Next to Burano
Why visit:
A calm island with vineyards, gardens and lagoon views — just a wooden bridge away from colorful Burano.
What to see:
- Santa Caterina Church
- The Venissa vineyard
- Quiet paths by the water
How to get there:
Vaporetto Line 12 from Fondamente Nove.
Local tip:
Walk to Burano at sunset across the wooden bridge — beautiful and silent. 🌅
🕊️ San Francesco del Deserto – The Island of Silence
Why visit:
A peaceful monastery island run by Franciscan monks, surrounded by gardens and cypresses.
What to see:
- The cloister
- Lagoon gardens
- Guided tours by the monks
How to get there:
Small boat service from Burano (booking needed).
Local tip:
Visit in the morning for the quietest atmosphere. 🌤️
🌿 Sant Erasmo – The Garden of Venice
Why visit:
The largest green island in the lagoon — fields, vineyards, beaches, cycling paths.
What to see:
- Torre Massimiliana
- Quiet lagoon beaches
- Local farms
How to get there:
Vaporetto Line 13.
Local tip:
Try the local violet artichokes in spring. 🥬
🌿 Vignole – A Green Escape Close to Venice
Why visit:
A tiny island full of greenery, orchards and lagoon views — perfect for a quiet walk.
What to see:
- Lagoon paths
- Old military structures
- Orchards and gardens
How to get there:
Vaporetto Line 13.
Local tip:
Pair Vignole + Sant’Erasmo in one afternoon. 🚤
🧭 Lazzaretto Nuovo – History in the Lagoon
Why visit:
A unique island where Venetian plague history is preserved through ancient graffiti and guided tours.
What to see:
- Tezon Grande
- Archaeological remains
- Defensive walls
How to get there:
Guided tours on selected days.
Local tip:
Perfect if you love Venice’s history. 📜
⛵ Certosa – Nature and Quiet Walks
Why visit:
A peaceful island near Venice with a large park, marina and lagoon paths.
What to see:
- Wide green areas
- Water views
- Quiet walking paths
How to get there:
Vaporetto Line 4.1 / 4.2.
Local tip:
Great for a break after exploring San Pietro di Castello. 🍃
📚 San Servolo – An Island of Stories
Why visit:
A former monastery and hospital, now a cultural island with gardens and lagoon views.
What to see:
- Island museum
- Peaceful gardens
- Beautiful viewpoints
How to get there:
Vaporetto Line 20.
Local tip:
Lovely for photography in the late afternoon light. 📸
📜 San Lazzaro degli Armeni – A Cultural Gem
Why visit:
An island managed by Armenian monks, home to rare manuscripts, artworks and a fascinating guided tour.
What to see:
- Ancient library
- Monastery collections
- Lagoon gardens
How to get there:
Vaporetto Line 20.
Local tip:
The guided tour is one of the most interesting in the whole lagoon. ⭐
Do you want to explore more islands?
Take a look to the Venetian Islands guide
⭐ FAQ – Hidden Venice Islands
Not always. Many hidden islands have very limited services, so bring water and snacks if you plan to walk around.
Here’s what you can expect:
– Sant’Erasmo ✔ has a seasonal bar/restaurant and a small supermarket near the church.
– Certosa ✔ has a seasonal bar/restaurant near the marina.
– Mazzorbo ✔ has Venissa (restaurant/winery) — expensive and not always open.
– San Servolo ✔ usually has a small café/bar linked to the university/events area.
– San Lazzaro, Vignole, San Francesco del Deserto ❌ have no shops or cafés.
Yes, most of them from Fondamenta Nove or San Zaccaria
Sant’Erasmo → Line 13
Vignole → Line 13
Certosa → Line 4.1 / 4.2
San Servolo → Line 20
San Lazzaro → Line 20
Mazzorbo → Line 12
Only San Francesco del Deserto requires a small private boat from Burano.
Absolutely. Recommended combinations:
Vignole + Sant’Erasmo
San Servolo + San Lazzaro
Mazzorbo + Burano
San Francesco del Deserto, a peaceful monastery island surrounded by gardens and silence.
Sant’Erasmo → fields, vineyards, quiet beaches
Vignole → orchards, green paths, lagoon views
Morning or late afternoon.
Midday can be hot, and many islands have little shade.
Yes, except San Francesco del Deserto, which requires a guided visit by the monks.
Most are not, due to unpaved paths and small bridges.
San Servolo and San Lazzaro are the easiest to access.
Yes — especially Sant’Erasmo, Vignole, and the marsh areas around Mazzorbo.
Expect lagoon birds, quiet water landscapes and beautiful sunset light.
Rarely.
Sant’Erasmo: bar/restaurant and supermarket toilets (when open).
Certosa: bar/restaurant toilets (seasonal).
San Servolo: toilets available during opening hours.
Other small islands: no public toilets.
Sant’Erasmo is the “garden of Venice”, and many families here grow vegetables, fruit and artichokes.
To reach their fields, locals sometimes bring tiny cars onto the island using a transport barge. It’s not for tourists — just a practical way for islanders to move tools and goods around.
A little detail you won’t find in most guides, but it’s part of life on the lagoon.
🏝️ Other Hidden Lagoon Islands (Unvisited, Wild & Full of History)
🗺️ A Renaissance View of the Lagoon
This 16th-century map by Bolognino Zaltieri shows how the northern lagoon once looked — centuries before many islands became abandoned or reclaimed by nature.
🌿 Madonna del Monte – The Abandoned Monastery Island
Once home to a medieval Benedictine monastery, this tiny island now lies silent and overgrown. Trees cover the ruins of the former church and cloisters, once used by the Venetians and later converted into an Austrian powder depot.
Seen only from the water, Madonna del Monte is one of the lagoon’s most atmospheric “ghost islands”.
🕊️ Sant’Ariano – The Island Where History Rises from the Ground
Among all the hidden islands of Venice, Sant’Ariano is the one that whispers the most unexpected story.
From a distance it looks like a quiet strip of reeds and lagoon water — but beneath the surface lies centuries of Venice’s past.
For over 500 years, Sant’Ariano was the secret cemetery of the city, the place where the remains from Venice’s hospitals, convents and ancient burial grounds were brought in silence.
Here, time and tides have merged with history so deeply that, on windy days or after a strong tide, the island occasionally reveals small fragments of ancient bones, rising naturally from the eroded soil like forgotten memories of the Republic.
You can’t visit it — and that’s part of its magic.
Sant’Ariano is a hidden world, a place where nature guards one of the lagoon’s most astonishing stories.
🌊 Sant’Angelo della Polvere – The Ghost Fortress of the Lagoon
Once a quiet convent, this island was later turned into Venice’s gunpowder depot — with a tragic fate.
In 1689 a lightning strike ignited the powder stores and blew the island apart, an explosion so strong it was heard across the entire lagoon.
Today, Sant’Angelo della Polvere is an eerie, overgrown ruin surrounded by shallow waters.
Seen only from the boat routes, it is one of the lagoon’s most haunting and dramatic ghost islands — a silent reminder of Venice’s military past.
🌾 La Cura – A Wild Island of Marshes and Silence
A small, untouched island once used by the Republic of Venice for land management and lagoon maintenance. Not open to visitors, La Cura is a haven for migratory birds and one of the most pristine natural corners of the northern lagoon.
🌿 Isola della Carbonera – The Forgotten Green Labyrinth
Hidden behind walls of thick vegetation, Isola della Carbonera looks like a floating forest.
Once used for charcoal-related activities and small rural outposts, it has now been completely reclaimed by nature: collapsed walls, ivy-covered foundations, and dense woodland that hides every trace of its past.
Untouched, inaccessible and beautifully wild, Carbonera is one of the northern lagoon’s most atmospheric nature-dominated micro-islands.
🏰 San Secondo
Once a monastic island and later a military and industrial site, San Secondo is now one of the lagoon’s quietest and most forgotten places. Hidden between Venice and the mainland , it is largely reclaimed by vegetation, with the remains of docks and structures silently telling the story of its working past. The island is not accessible, but seen from the water it perfectly embodies a lesser-known Venice — where nature has slowly taken control.
🔦 Spignon – The Lighthouse Lost at Sea
Spignon is one of the smallest inhabited structures in the lagoon: a tiny square platform of bricks with a lonely lighthouse standing at its center.
Built in the 1800s to guide boats navigating the southern lagoon, it is now abandoned — its stone tower rising above the ruins like a guardian of another time.
Surrounded only by open water, Spignon feels surreal, almost cinematic: a post-apocalyptic lighthouse floating in the middle of the lagoon.
🏰 San Giacomo in Paludo
Located in the northern lagoon, San Giacomo in Paludo began as a religious settlement before becoming a strategic military fortress. Its imposing walls, still clearly visible from the water, recall centuries of lagoon defense and isolation. Long abandoned and closed to visitors, the island feels suspended in time — a quiet reminder of a Venice shaped not only by beauty, but also by control, borders, and solitude.
🌙 Buel del Lovo – The Crescent Island No One Talks About
Shaped like a perfect lagoon crescent, Buel del Lovo is one of Venice’s least-known and most mysterious islands.
Thick vegetation hides the remains of old rural structures, while the silence of the marshland creates an atmosphere that feels suspended beyond time.
Rarely mentioned even by locals, Buel del Lovo is a true secret of the Venetian lagoon, a place where nature has completely taken over.
🚤 Explore the Lagoon Your Way
Some islands are easy to reach by vaporetto.
Others — the quietest and most authentic — like Lazzaretto Nuovo, Poveglia or the wild Buel del Lovo — are best explored by small boat.
If you want to discover hidden canals, natural areas and truly off-route islands, here’s the complete, safe guide:
👉 🚤 Boat Rental in Venice — The Freedom of the Lagoon
🌅 Plan Your Lagoon Escape
– Best time: morning or sunset
– Bring: water, snacks, hat, sunscreen
– Shoes: comfortable (many paths are unpaved)
– Pace: enjoy it slowly — these islands are made for peace
See also: 🏘️ The Sestieri of Venice – A Local Guide to the Soul of the City
🌟 Hidden Venice: Fascinating Facts You Won’t Find in Guidebooks
🚤 Vaporetto Venice — Complete Guide to Tickets, Lines & How to Use It
For official vaporetto schedules, check the ACTV website: