Sant’Erasmo Historical Timeline

Origins

The island was settled early and has always been agricultural rather than urban. Its soil is sandy and slightly saline, worked over centuries into productive market garden by drainage ditches and careful management.

Turning points

Under the Republic, Sant'Erasmo fed Venice. Produce went to the Rialto by boat daily, and the island's role in the city's supply was economic infrastructure rather than a picturesque sideline.

Influential people

The Torre Massimiliana, the circular fort near the Capannone stop, was built by the Austrians in the 1840s on the site of an earlier Napoleonic work -- the lagoon's outer islands were fortified by every occupying power because they command the approaches to Venice.

Cultural evolution

Twentieth-century Venice began importing its vegetables from the mainland, and the island's farming contracted sharply. Population fell, and much of the land went out of cultivation.

Present-day significance

The recovery has come through quality rather than volume: the violet artichoke is now a Slow Food presidium, small producers have returned, and the island supplies restaurants in the city that specifically want what grows here.