The island of San Servolo
seen from the lagoon.
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I
n the 7th century Benedictine monks built a church and a monastery on this island to
use as a home for ageing monks. In 1648 the monastery had a population of 200 monks from various
orders in flight from Candia. The Brothers Hospitallers “Fatebenefratelli” took over the island
in 1715 building a hospital for the mentally ill from the noble Venetian families. In 1797 with
the arrival of the French the island became an asylum to all effects and purposes and carried
out this function until 1978.
Today it is the site of the Venice International
University,, an istitution that programme,
promotes and co-ordinates post-graduate university training and scientific research.
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