History

Known in antiquity as Lido Bovense, San Nicolò, or simply Lio, the island’s northern reaches were home to a Benedictine abbey from earliest times. This abbey later became the repository for the remains of San Nicolò, patron saint of sailors. In 1389, the Republic of Venice designated a small plot for Jewish burials—a cemetery of considerable historical importance, now restored and open to visitors.

Malamocco, to the south, was once a major lagoon settlement until a catastrophic event, possibly a tsunami, caused its decline in the twelfth century. The northern portion remained largely unpopulated until the seventeenth century, when development began around the new church of Santa Maria Elisabetta. As late as the mid-nineteenth century, the island remained rural, dotted with vegetable gardens.