A half day on the northern lagoon islands where Venice's vegetables grow: boat line 13 from Fondamente Nove, a request stop at Vignole, then the flat farm lanes of Sant'Erasmo to the Austrian Torre Massimiliana and the beach, past the old quarantine island.
Best time: Spring (castraure season, artichoke festival in May) or a summer morning; take water and food, there are few shops
The route, stop by stop
- 1Fondamente Nove (line 13)
Take line 13 (Fondamente Nove-Murano Faro-Vignole-Sant'Erasmo-Treporti), roughly hourly. Bikes ride on line 13 for EUR 1.50; folded bikes in a bag go free. Bikes are not allowed in the historic centre, so only bring one if you can carry it straight onto the boat.
- 2Vignole
About 18 minutes from Fondamente Nove. A farm island; the boat stops only on request, and you can book a pickup at least 20 minutes ahead on 800 845 065. Its gardens also grow the violet artichoke. 30-45 min if you get off.
- 3Sant'Erasmo Capannone
About 28 minutes from Fondamente Nove. Sant'Erasmo is the second-largest island of the lagoon after Venice itself, with 566 residents (end of 2025). Sansovino already called it the island of gardens and vineyards that fed the city; Venetians still call it the 'Orto di Venezia', home of the castraure, the first artichoke buds. Walk or cycle the lanes between the fields.
- 4Torre Massimiliana
At the southern tip facing the Lido: a French fort of 1811-1814 and an Austrian round tower of 1843-1844, 25 m across, ringed by a moat, built for 13 guns. Abandoned and overgrown until the late 1990s, now owned by the Comune and restored. The island's beach is on this southern shore. 30 min.
- 5Sant'Erasmo Chiesa
The parish church on Campo de San Rasmo; the boat back to Fondamente Nove leaves from the Chiesa stop (about 40 minutes). The island's artichoke festival is usually on the second Sunday of May. 15 min.
- 6Lazzaretto Nuovo (quarantine island)
A Benedictine monastery turned quarantine island in 1468: goods suspected of carrying plague stayed 40 days in the long Tezon Grando, whose walls are covered with the merchants' graffiti (one dated 1593). About 15,000 visitors a year. Line 13 stops here only on request.
More walks in Venice
- Rialto market and bacaro crawl (food grazing walk)
- Dorsoduro: gondola yard, tramezzini and student squares
- Cannaregio evening: Ghetto to the Misericordia canals
- Castello: Arsenale, Via Garibaldi and the local east end
- San Marco classics without the queues
- Northern lagoon island hop: San Michele, Murano, Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello
- Castello's far east: San Pietro to the Sant'Elena pines
- Cannaregio's lagoon edge: Tintoretto's parish to Fondamente Nove
- Giudecca end to end: the Zitelle to the Stucky mill
- Dorsoduro's west end: the Nicolotti parish, Veronese and the bridge of fists