I Lazzaretti Veneziani

The Venetian Lazzaretti consist of an Old Lazzaretto and a New Lazzaretto spread over two islands in the Lagoon. Through an ecomuseum and various activities, the Venetian Lazzaretti today tell thousands of visitors about this place of crossroads and encounters between cultures.

The Venetian Lazzaretti received the economic award for the 2021 call for proposals. The project set out to digitise itself through the creation of a website and a series of virtual tours.

The Lazzaretti Veneziani is a symbolic place, still an authentic part of Venice, an emblem of identity and resilience in an area challenged by mass tourism and climate change. Once a crossroads of passages and encounters between cultures, the Venetian Republic implemented the first real public health strategy to control infectious diseases on these islands in the 15th century. The Lazarettos were the centre of an innovation that made it possible to overcome the fear of disease and make systematic methodologies that came into use during the lockdown.

Winning the cash prize in our call for bids enabled the initiative to implement a necessary innovation and digitisation, providing the Venetian Lazarettos with the necessary tools to move the project towards an unprecedented digital communication. The cash prize guaranteed them a new visual identity, which was then declined in the new website - thus making it a unified tool for identity, promotion, involvement and dissemination - and in the new promo videos, made in Italian and English, to tell visitors about the spaces of Lazzaretto Nuovo and Lazzaretto Vecchio.  

Another important aspect of the project was to improve the visitor experience. Thanks to new brochures, updated signage for the wharf and belvedere, and video guides for the historical itinerary and nature walk, the Lazzarettis were able to communicate the project at 360 degrees and further involve the visitor in discovering the place.

Commenting on the partnership with our Foundation, Giorgia Fazzini, strategy and communication manager of the project, said: ‘In such a difficult historical moment, the partnership with Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza, for the launch of which we chose not by chance the European Heritage Days 2020 dedicated to “Heritage and Education-Learning for Life”, has enabled a fundamental strengthening in digital and field communication, giving the ecomuseum new important and topical tools.’