Worldmap. Stravinsky. Pound.
The little island of San Michele with its cemetery, located between Venice and Murano, is definitely worth a visit: not only due to the celebrities buried there, but also from an architectural point of view. At the same moment you have the chance to escape the busy Venetian calli and enjoy a calm atmosphere.
History
In the 13th century the island was inhabited by Camaldolese monks whose most famous representative was Fra Mauro (14th/15th century), a Venetian Camaldolese monk and cartographer, who (around 1450) produced a world map (illustrating also Africa) now exposed in the Biblioteca Marciana in Piazza San Marco. Furthermore, these monks commissioned the construction of a cloister, a church (built by Mauro Codussi in the 15th century) and a gothic cloister.
After the conquest of Venice by French troops in the 19th century, the “empereur” Napoleon undertook same urban transformations in the laguna city including the creation of a cemetery outside of Venice located on San Michele. As a matter of fact, San Michele was only in service as of 1837 (San Cristoforo della Pace, the neighbor island, however already as of the 1st of July in 1813) and finished in 1870 due to financial problems (the two island were connected and the church San Cristoforo della Pace destroyed). Nowadays, as space is limited on the cemetery island, Venetians are buried on the terra ferma (Mestre) and only celebrities and rich Venetians on San Michele.
Those who wish to visit some “tombs of interest” will find: Ezra Pound, Stravinsky, Sergej Pavlovič Djagilev (Ballets russes), Christian Doppler (for our physicists and mathematicians, or Big Bang Theory fans), Jean Schlumberger (Tiffany); etc. You can find a list here .
Have a look around the cemetery to admire the church/cloister and the different pompous graves and mausoleums bearing the names of well-known Venetian families.
How to get there:
Line 4.1 or Line 4.2 from Piazzale Roma/Fondamenta Nove/Murano
