The small island of Poveglia in the Venetian lagoon may soon be transformed from Black Death cemetery and lunatic asylum into a luxury hotel.

Venice has a problem. This unique city is a magnet for tourists but just does not have the space to accommodate both local inhabitants and the constant stream of visitors. As locals are priced out of their homes the city of Venice is heading towards a cultural Disneyland. One solution is to convert some of the small islands into luxury hotels.

The island of Murano is famous the world over for its glass-making but has nowhere for tourists to stay. This is about to change as two abandoned glass factories are scheduled to be converted into five-star hotels.

Other islands are also being considered, but the most controversial is Poveglia, with its macabre history and a reputation for being haunted. In Roman times the island was used as a dumping ground for plague victims. This tradition continued every time Venice suffered a plague such as the Black Death. Records also show that in the panic that gripped the people of the city many were carted off to the island at the slightest sign of infection. Men, women and children were left to die screaming amidst the already rotting corpses. It is the screams of these dead souls that are said to haunt the island to this day.

To compound the problem a lunatic asylum was built on Poveglia in 1922. The inmates of this psychiatric hospital started to report seeing the ghosts of past plague victims, hardly conducive to any form of mental healing. The chief doctor decided to cure these delusions by experimenting with crude lobotomies, thereby adding the screams of his patients to those of the ghosts. It is said that he himself started to see the suffering ghosts and eventually went mad. On his death the remaining patients took his body up to the bell tower and sealed its entrance.

To this day, Venetian fisherman avoid the lagoon around Poveglia, in the hope of avoiding any spirit encounter or netting the odd bone or two. The local council seems less squeamish about the history of Poveglia and it has been targeted for development. No definite projects have as yet been announced, but let's hope the luxury guests will have the time of their lives.

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