31st October 2024
Walking through the avenues of San Michele, one feels the invisible hand of those who designed this space with devotion and care. First, Giannantonio Selva, the architect of the renowned La Fenice Theatre, and later David Chipperfield, known for his minimal and harmonious style, traced a path inviting visitors to lose themselves in contemplation. Chipperfield, with his essential architectural language, redesigned a part of the island, creating colonnades and silent, almost monastic spaces where light and shadow intertwine like a dance.
The history of San Michele is deeply tied to the cultural and political changes of its time. In 1804, under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, a decree required cemeteries to be moved outside densely populated city areas to prevent public health risks and ensure hygiene. Previously, Venetians buried their dead in church grounds within the city center. In response to Napoleon’s mandate, San Michele was designated in 1807 as Venice's cemetery island, forever transforming the island's role. This choice made San Michele a sanctuary where Venice’s illustrious figures could rest in a place set apart from the noisy city yet close enough to remain part of it in spirit.
These spaces seem to reveal the mystery of life and death, like a silent breath reminding us that everything is fleeting, yet perpetually present. The architecture of San Michele does not impose but accompanies; it does not flaunt but leaves room for reflection.
San Michele hosts distinguished figures, souls who illuminated the world with their works, leaving an indelible mark. On the tombs of great artists like Igor Stravinsky, Ezra Pound, and Sergej Djaghilev, flowers and messages from admirers worldwide serve as silent offerings from those who recognize an immortal spirit in these figures. Stravinsky’s tomb, so simple and austere, invites silence, almost requesting that music speak for him. The stone above Pound’s burial seems to hold back his verses, left forever floating between water and sky. And Diaghilev, with ballet shoes left by admirers, appears to dance with the lagoon, like a ballet with no end.
Walking the paths of San Michele feels like entering a suspended dimension where time loses its hold. Here, Venice, queen of beauty and history, offers a final embrace to her artistic children, leaving them free to float in an eternal bond with the city. Every tomb, every inscription, every detail is a reminder of our finiteness and, at the same time, of our desire to transcend through what we have left most significant and intense.
Visiting San Michele, exploring its avenues, and breathing in the immense calm that reigns there evokes a desire to one day belong to this timeless place. However, the possibility of being buried in San Michele is a rare and reserved privilege. Due to the island’s limited size and existing restrictions, burial in San Michele is granted almost exclusively to Venetian citizens or individuals who had a deep and special connection to the city, such as internationally renowned artists and cultural figures. The process requires special authorization, and the available spaces are extremely limited, meaning that only those who have truly contributed to Venice’s cultural life can hope to rest here.
Thus, even for many Venetians, access to San Michele remains a dream often out of reach, a symbol of Venetian eternity that defies time and memory. For anyone visiting this place, however, there remains the opportunity to immerse oneself in this parallel world, to be enveloped by the idea of eternity surrounding the island, and to pay tribute to those who rest here in an eternal embrace with Venice’s history and beauty
