San Giorgio in Alga (English: "St. George in the seaweed"
) is an island of the
Venetian lagoon, northern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, lying between the
Giudecca
Giudecca (; vec, Zueca) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy. It is part of the '' sestiere'' of Dorsoduro and is a locality of the ''comune'' of Venice.
Geography
Giudecca lies immediately south of the central islands of Ve ...
and
Fusina (a ''
frazione
A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...
'' of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
on the coast, near
Marghera
Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera.
Etymology
The name Marghera is said in popular myth to come ...
).
History
After a Benedictine monastery was founded about 1000 AD, more monasteries followed. In 1404,
Ludovico Barbo, the
commendatory prior of a monastery of
Augustinian friars
The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...
on the island which was almost abandoned, gave the monastery to a small community of
canons leading a
contemplative
In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation.
Etymology
The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word '' ...
life. The canons of the monastery instituted reforms to the
canonical
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
life which were quickly adopted in other communities of canons throughout the region. Soon they became the head of a
congregation known as the
Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga.
[Catholic encyclopedia]
/ref> One of Barbo's reforms was to allow the canons to sleep in separate cells to provide more opportunity for solitary prayer.[''The church in Italy in the fifteenth century'' by Denys Hay 2002 page 76]
In 1717 a fire burnt most of the buildings on the island. As of 1799 there was a political prison, but nowadays the island is completely abandoned.
The island was used in 1944 as a secret base for German military personnel training under the auspices of Italian Lt-Cmdr Wolk to master mine laying against Allied ships as free-diving
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath- ...
frogmen. To avoid being discovered they practised only at night.
Notes
References
*''Guida d’Italia del Touring Club Italiano'', Venice
Islands of the Venetian Lagoon
{{Veneto-geo-stub