Venice is always connected in my thoughts with Brodsky, who loved it so much.
When in 2007 I was going to Venice for the first time, my plans included a mandatory visit to the cemetery of San Michele and the grave of Brodsky.
I love to wander through cemeteries in silence, looking at monuments and inscriptions. It has a calming effect on me.
There is only one cemetery in Venice, and it occupies the entire small island of San Michele. On the "Isle of the Dead" not only the Venetians are buried, but also outstanding people from all over the world, including ours.
The island became a cemetery in 1807 by decree of Napoleon. Before this year, the people of Venice burned and buried the dead in the city; in churches, private gardens, palace cellars wherever possible.
Our Sergei Dyagelev and Igor Stravinsky are buried in the Orthodox zone, but Joseph Brodsky, on the territory of the Evangelical, Protestant. On the Orthodox part, the body of the poet was forbidden to be buried by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Here is how Brodsky's friend Ilya Kutik, who is present at the funeral, describes the story:
<Итак, о перезахоронении. Мистика началась уже в самолете, гроб в полете открылся. Надо сказать, что американские гробы закрываются на шурупы и болты, они не открываются даже от перепадов высоты и давления. В Венеции стали грузить гроб на катафалк, он переломился пополам. Бродского пришлось перекладывать в другой гроб. Дальше на гондолах его доставили на остров мертвых.
The original plan called for his burial in the Russian half of the cemetery between the graves of Stravinsky and Diaghilev. It turned out that this was impossible, since permission was needed from the Russian Orthodox Church in Venice, but she did not give it, because Brodsky was not Orthodox. The coffin is standing, people are waiting. Throwing began, negotiations went on for two hours. As a result, the decision is made to bury him on the evangelical side of the cemetery. There are no empty seats, while in Russian there are no problems. Nevertheless, a place was found - at the feet of Ezra. (I note that Brodsky could not stand Pound as a man and an anti-Semite, as a poet he greatly appreciated ...) They began to dig - a bar of skull and bones, it is impossible to bury. In the end, poor Iosif Alexandrovich in a new coffin was taken to the wall, behind which electric saws and other equipment howl, they put him a bottle of his favorite whiskey and a pack of his favorite cigarettes, buried him almost on the surface, barely covered with earth ...
And one more circumstance, which was written about only in Italy. Russian President Yeltsin sent six cubic meters of yellow roses to Brodsky's funeral. Mikhail Baryshnikov and his company transferred all these roses to the grave of Ezra Pound. There was not a single flower from the Russian authorities on Brodsky's grave, which, in fact, corresponds to his will.
Before the trip, I studied the location of Brodsky's grave. Everything seemed to be clear. There was no sign to the grave at that time, but I knew that there was an official sign on the main alley, on which Brodsky and an arrow were written in felt-tip pen. Then I found out that the inscription itself was first made with a felt-tip pen by Peter Weil, and then the inscription was constantly updated by those who came to his grave (I was embarrassed to do this).
Arriving on a vaporetto on the island, I walked around the cemetery and went to look for Brodsky's grave, but everything turned out to be not as simple as in the stories of travelers.
An old Italian, all in black, who came with a bouquet of flowers, probably to relatives, seeing how I was trying to find the grave, to my question on Brodsky, asked who I was by nationality and, realizing that I was Russian, almost by force forced me to go to Stravinsky's grave, believing that a Russian tourist should only go there, I had to, in order not to offend her, go first to Stravinsky and Diaghilev, and then, after her departure, finally reach Brodsky. Stravinsky is more popular than the Nobel poet. Beginning and aging ballerinas bring pointe shoes to Diaghilev's grave. Pointe shoes look kind of pitiful.
Near Brodsky's tombstone there is a metal box that looks like a mailbox, I'm not a poet, so I didn't write anything to Brodsky, I put only a pebble that I had saved up in advance. They say many poets come here for the blessing of a great brother, leave pens and notes.
On the reverse side of Brodsky's tombstone there is an inscription in Latin Letum non omnia finit - everything does not end with death, in relation to Brodsky this is an absolute truth.
The island of the dead is inseparable in my perception from Venice. And when I came to Venice for the second time in 2011, I took my sisters and my niece there. By this time, Brodsky's name was already on the official index. 
I was struck by someone's grave destroyed by centuries-old trees 
At the exit from the cemetery, we were stopped by a funeral procession with a chic black lacquered coffin and inconsolable colorful Italian relatives.
On my first visit, I never got to another place in Venice, which is inseparable from Brodsky - "the embankment of the incurable", sung by him in his famous essay. And on my second visit, I swore that I would definitely get to her. On the evening of the second day, leaving my exhausted niece and her mother to watch cartoons in the hotel, 
my second sister and my sister-in-law and I went first to church - Santa Maria della Salute.
The name of the embankment was given by the hospital and the neighborhoods adjacent to it, in which the medieval city contained hopeless patients infected with either the plague or syphilis. And when the epidemic ended, the surviving residents of Venice built a stunning church in memory of deliverance - Santa Maria della Salute, and the embankment was given the name Fondamenta degli Incurabili, now it no longer exists on the maps and if it were not for Brodsky, no one would remember her like that.
Already in the dark we went from the church to look for the embankment. We walked for a long time, there were almost no people in this area at night. The lighting was not enough, and we were afraid to miss the place we were looking for. In addition to us, a young couple walked along the embankment, in my opinion Americans. It was somehow more fun with them. And suddenly they murmured loudly “Brodsky, Brodsky”, we realized that we had reached the right place.
Then they stopped near the memorial plaque and continued to say something enthusiastically about Brodsky.
So we did a tour with a young American couple.
Today we are going to the Venice island of San Michele.
Even when compiling the route, we decided that we would definitely visit here. I love the poetry of Joseph Brodsky, Galka is from a ballet family, she was engaged in dancing herself, and now she has a business related to ballet and choreographic groups. She has a strong respect for Sergei Diaghilev. In addition, Galya was interested in the information that a ballet shoe always lies on Diaghilev's grave. And Galka is just engaged in the manufacture of ballet shoes, and she was very interested in how the “Dyagilev ballet flat” was sewn.
The third participant of our trip is an actress. She just starred in a film about Igor Stravinsky. Played the composer's wife. She was not allowed to leave the filming, and she asked very much to put flowers on the grave of Igor Stravinsky and his wife Vera Stravinskaya. *Interesting work of the actors. You get used to the role of a wife, you probably feel almost like her ... and lay flowers on the grave ... *
All 3 of our idols are buried in the cemetery of the island of San Michele. We bought flowers to put on the graves of Brodsky, Diaghilev and Stravinsky, and set off.
The islands of Venice are located close to each other, but we left early to have time to walk around the island.
At the entrance to the island of San Michele, we saw such a monument. We looked with all our eyes, because Rook was swimming in the water. It contains two people. One points to the island of San Michele.
Dante and Virgil
These figures were sculpted by the Moscow sculptor Georgy Frangulyan. Two great poets of Italy - Virgil and Dante cross the river Acheron. At Dante, the water of the river boils with damned souls. Here in the calm waters of the bay there are no such passions, and San Michele is sometimes called a "paradise". It turns out that Virgil points the poet to the quietest and greenest place in Venice.
The sculpture stands on a pontoon structure, sways on the water and, in fact, floats. It's beautiful and not scary at all. But there must be some legends and horror stories. Cemetery at hand, but no horror stories? It doesn't happen!
And, exactly. It turns out that the story of a black gondolier, whose grave is moving, emerges with enviable frequency and for more than one hundred years. Simultaneously with this news there are rumors that one person is missing. Probably, the missing people on a black-black night are taken away in their black-black gondola by a black-black Gondolier. This is scary ... * Interestingly, on the islands of Venice, at the end of this terrible story, it is customary to shout: “Give me back my heart ?!
Cemetery of San Michele
The island of San Michele is also called the island of the dead. San Michele is a Venetian cemetery. The church of San Michele in Isobla, the bell tower and the chapel have been preserved here.
The church is an early piece of Renaissance architecture in Venice. Its architect, Mauro Codussi, made a breakthrough - the fact is that before him in Venice the buildings were brick, and his church was built of white stone. Finely decorated and noble.
Next to the Church of San Michele in Isobla is the Emiliani Chapel. It is decorated with a dome, columns and sculptures. The chapel also belongs to the Renaissance.
They are combined with a brick bell tower, which is completed by a dome, similar to the dome of the chapel.
Church, chapel and bell tower
From the side of the bay, the island looked like a fortress, I remembered the words from the fairy tale by A.S. Pushkin about the island of Buyan, where in scales, like the heat of grief, 33 heroes emerge from the sea foam. Only we did not see the heroes. The island even from a distance looked quiet and calm.
There was a monastery on the island of San Michele. Monks once lived a solitary life here. The monastery had a huge library, a theosophical school. In addition to theosophy, philosophy and the humanities were taught at the school.
On the island stood the Church of the Archangel Michael, which was attached to the monastery in the 13th century. She gave the island its name. The island became a cemetery in 1807 by decree of Napoleon. Before this year, the people of Venice burned and buried the dead in the city; in churches, private gardens, palace cellars wherever possible. *Indeed, a problem*.
Under the cemetery, two islands of San Michele and San Cristoforo were allocated, but over time, the channel that separated them was filled up and the two islands became one.
At the end of the 18th century, Napoleon gave the island to the Austrians. They used the island as a prison for the Venetian patriots.
The cemetery is divided into zones: Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish. There is a children's cemetery. The cheerful word "Bambino", written on a tablet near small graves, was very upsetting.
Sergei Dyagelev and Igor Stravinsky are buried in the Orthodox zone, but Joseph Brodsky, on the territory of the Evangelical, Protestant. On the Orthodox part, the body of the poet was forbidden to be buried by the Russian Orthodox Church. On the Catholic part - the Catholic Church.
Brodsky's grave
We got to the island of San Michele quickly. Where the graves are, it was written in our notebook, but how to get there, which way to go? We looked in the nearest open door to ask, and we were immediately given a diagram of the cemetery with three circled names: Brodsky, Stravinsky, Diaghilev.
Cemetery in San Michele
If you need a plan of the "Venice City Cemetery", ask on the island like this: CIMITERO COMUNALE DI VENEZI.
We entered one square, the zone - not that. The second - again not there. And here is the square where the inscription read: "Reparto-Evangelico" "Plot of Protestants" ...
Protestant site on San Michele Island
Here lies the body of Joseph Brodsky. They searched for the grave for a long time, I don’t know if they would have found it, but then they saw a man walking with a confident step. He entered quickly, but stopped in confusion. We watched. He, like a terminator, began orientation: he moved his head to the left - scanned the space, then to the right, a little more to the left and confidently walked in a certain direction. He stood up, turned around and confidently walked out.
In search of Brodsky's grave
We rushed there. It was clear that this was our man and came to honor the memory. Indeed, in front of us was the grave of Brodsky.
How to find Brodsky's grave
We explain how to go:
From the cemetery gate to the left. Along the "Children's Alley" - "Recinto Bambini". Landmark - a bas-relief - a girl with a bouquet of flowers climbs the stairs into the arms of an angel.
At the beginning of the alley, the sign EZRA POUND DIAGHILEV STRAWINSKI.
At the end of the alley there is a gate with signs "Reparto Greco" and "Reparto Evangelico".
Go through the gate and turn left towards the "Reparto Evangelico" sign.
Large conspicuous grave of Ezra Pound. Near (on the right) Brodsky's grave.
Brodsky's grave
We read - Joseph Brodsky and below Joseph Brodsky. On the reverse side of the pedestal is Latin: "Letum non omnia finit" - Everything does not end with death.
Near the tombstone was a metal box - like a postal one, there were pencils. We did not dare to take them: the poet probably needs them. They took out a ballpoint pen, and I wrote a letter to Brodsky. Everything I wanted to say, I wrote and put in a drawer. And it became so easy for me, as if I talked, said everything I wanted.
Diaghilev's grave
The tombstones of S. Diaghilev and Stravinsky were found immediately.
Diaghilev's grave
Grave of Stravinsky
Stood at the composer
Then we walked through the chapel, learned how it is customary in Venice to bury their dead.
There was no distress. There was peace. Calm. Silence in the soul.
We went to the pier, or rather, to the parking lot. Ahead of the other islands of Venice.
Friends, now we are in Telegram: our channel about Europe, our channel about Asia. Welcome)
How to get to San Michele Island
You can get to it by water bus - vaporetto. We need No. 4.1 and No. 4.2 (See article. Vaporetto diagram). San Michele is in the same direction as the island of Murano.
From the Fondamente Nuovo parking lot in Piazzale Roma, it is 1 stop to Cimitero (this is the island of San Michele). If you want to visit the island of Murano on the same day, then at the Cimitero stop, take the vaporetto again and continue the journey to the island of Murano. (One stop).
Vaporetto No. 4.1 and No. 4.2 can be boarded not only at the Fondamente Nuovo parking lot, but from this place it is more convenient to explain how to get to the island of Venice San Michele. You can board at any stop where these routes pass.
Opening hours of the cemetery on the island of San Michele:
- April to September: 7:30 – 18:00
- October to March: 7:30 – 16:00
San Michele Map
This is a 3D map of the islands of Venice. You can walk around the island, see how it works.
Where to stay in Venice
Naturally, there is no housing on San Michele - this is a cemetery. You need to select hotels in Venice itself.
Now many housing options in Venice have appeared on the service Airbnb. We have written how to use this service. If you do not find a free room in the hotel, then look for accommodation through this booking site.
The poet Joseph Brodsky died in the winter of 1996, but his ashes found their last refuge only a year and a half later, in the summer of 1997. Before finding rest, the body of the poet was buried in a temporary grave, and the question of the place of the final burial remained open for a long time.
"Death doesn't end"
Joseph Brodsky passed away on January 28, 1996. He was 55 years old. Long before his death, in 1962, the 22-year-old poet wrote: “I don’t want to choose a country or a churchyard, I’ll come to Vasilyevsky Island to die.” The poet died in America, but was buried on the island - only not on Vasilyevsky, but on one of the Venetian ones - San Michele.
Joseph Alexandrovich died in New York on the night of January 28. The heart, according to doctors, stopped suddenly - a heart attack, the fifth in a row. The first burial of Brodsky was temporary - the body in a zinc-lined coffin was placed in a crypt at the Church of the Holy Trinity on the banks of the Hudson. The decision on the final resting place took more than a year. The proposal sent by a telegram from the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Galina Starovoitova to bury the poet in St. Petersburg was rejected - "this would mean deciding for Brodsky the question of returning to his homeland." It is worth recalling that Joseph himself was not allowed to come to the USSR either for his mother's funeral or for his father's.
Joseph Brodsky lived to be 55 years old. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
According to the widow of the poet Maria (née Sozzani, an Italian aristocrat with Russian roots): “The idea of a funeral in Venice was suggested by one of my friends. This is the city that, apart from St. Petersburg, Joseph loved the most.”
On June 21, 1997, Brodsky's body was reburied at the San Michele cemetery. They planned to bury the poet in the Russian half of the cemetery between the graves of Stravinsky and Diaghilev. But this turned out to be impossible, since Joseph was not Orthodox. The Catholic clergy also refused. As a result, the grave is located in the Protestant part of the cemetery. At first, there was a wooden cross on the grave with the name Joseph Brodsky, a few years later it was replaced by a monument by the work of an American artist - an emigrant from the USSR Vladimir Radunsky, who once illustrated one of Brodsky's poems.
On the back of the monument there is an inscription in Latin - a line from the elegy of the ancient Roman poet Propertius, which means: "Not everything ends with death." At Brodsky's grave, visitors leave poems, letters, pebbles, photographs, pencils, cigarettes - as you know, Joseph smoked a lot.
Don't write a biography!
Shortly before his death, Brodsky sent a letter to the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, where the main part of the poet's archive was kept until 1972, the time of his expulsion from the USSR. In the message, he asked for 50 years to close access to his diaries, letters and family documents. The ban did not apply to manuscripts and other similar materials; the literary part of the archive is open to researchers.
The poet asked his relatives not to participate in writing his biography. Photo: From the archive of Yakov Gordin
Brodsky asked friends and family not to take part in writing his biography. He emphasized: “I do not mind philological studies associated with my art. works - they are, as they say, the property of the public. But my life, my physical condition, with God's help, belonged and belongs only to me ... What seems to me the worst thing in this undertaking is that such writings serve the same purpose as the events described in them: that they bring down literature to the level of political reality. Willingly or involuntarily (I hope not intentionally), you make it easier for the reader to understand my mercy. ... Ah, - the Frenchman from Bordeaux will say, - everything is clear. Dissident. For this, the Nobel was given to him by these anti-Soviet Swedes. And he won’t buy “Poems” ... I’m not myself, I feel sorry for him.
I have no objection to philological studies related to my works - they are, as they say, the property of the public. But my life, my physical condition, with God's help, belonged and belongs only to me.
The only literary biography of Brodsky to date belongs to his friend, an emigrant, as well as Joseph, who was born in Leningrad - Lev Losev. According to the researcher of Brodsky's life and work, Valentina Polukhina, writing a biography is prohibited until 2071, that is, for 75 years after the death of the poet.
In one of the interviews, to the question: “What do you value most in a person?”, Brodsky answered: “The ability to forgive, the ability to regret. The most common feeling that I have in relation to people, and this may seem offensive, is pity. Probably because we are all finite.” And he also argued: "Two things justify the existence of man on earth: love and creativity."
Shelter for work
As you know, in St. Petersburg, a memorial plaque was installed on Muruzi's house (Liteiny pr., 24), in which the poet lived from 1955 to 1972. But the memorial museum in the apartment has not been opened yet. But in the Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House, you can see the exposition "Joseph Brodsky's American Study", which includes authentic items from the poet's house in South Hadley, donated by the widow.
The grave of Joseph Brodsky is located in the cemetery of San Michele. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Levi Kitrossky
It was in this town that Joseph was going to go on the morning of January 28 - here he taught at the university since the early 1980s. In South Hadley, Brodsky had half a house, which the poet considered "a refuge where you can work in peace." The Fountain House has a desk, a secretary, a table lamp, an armchair, a sofa, a library, postcards and photographs.
On the table is a pack of L&M cigarettes, which, as Brodsky said, were the cause of his first heart attack. There is also a small transistor receiver, typewriters - the poet did not use a computer.
Noteworthy is the old leather suitcase brought by Brodsky's father from China in 1948. It was with this suitcase that Joseph left his homeland forever. Sitting on this suitcase at Pulkovo airport on the day of departure on June 4, 1972, one of his friends captured it. It is interesting that a pen, a notebook, envelopes and even open boxes of medicines were found in the drawers of the secretary - these little things presented in the exposition give the impression that Brodsky can come in at any moment for the thing he needs.
Throughout the 20th century, scientists, writers, poets, artists and ordinary people left Russia for various reasons. As a result, in the world, and especially in Europe, "Russian islands" were formed, with their own charm, culture, way of life and, of course, cemeteries. Continuing to acquaint readers with the burial places of our compatriots, EUROMAG magazine went to Venice at the San Michele cemetery.
Photo: “And I swore that if I could get out… the first thing I would do was go to Venice.”
Emigration from Russia in the 20th century, unfortunately, has become a common phenomenon. It got to the point that the Russians made up the second largest diaspora in the world. Of course, among these millions there were also outstanding people with world names, many of whom were forced to leave their country.
France and Italy over the 20th century have become, perhaps, the most "Russian" countries in Western Europe. Ever since the 19th century, our poets, writers, artists, thinkers and scientists have been in love for a while, and some forever, traveling to Paris, the Cote d'Azur, the vineyards of Tuscany or the warm sands of Capri. And of course, Venice.
The city on the water has always attracted great people with its uniqueness and grandeur, but only a few have been honored to stay with it forever. The cemetery island of San Michele has become the last home for many great people, including our compatriots.
The cypress-covered island was not always the last stop for the Venetians. For a long time there was a monastery in the fortress on the island, then a prison, but by order of Napoleon I, the island was transformed in 1807 into an exclusive place for the burial of the Venetians.
The cemetery of San Michele is divided into zones: Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish. The island is surrounded by a red brick wall, on top of which is another wall of cypress trees, and the white dome of the fifteenth century church of San Michele in Isola. This is perhaps one of the greenest islands in the Venetian lagoon. And the quietest.
Since this is the only cemetery in Venice, the city authorities decided to allow prominent people whose lives were connected with the city to be buried there.
This list of "outstanding" is not so great, although the cemetery itself cannot be called large. However, our compatriots also took an honorable place in the same row with Christian Doppler, Franco Basaglia and Louis-Leopold Robert.
Of course, one of the most famous Russians in the world buried in the cemetery of San Michele is Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky. The outstanding composer, conductor and pianist was one of the fathers of musical modernism and the largest representative of the musical culture of the 20th century.
His country was gone when he was 46 years old. After 17 years, he became a citizen of France, and in 1945 - the United States. But the whole world knew him precisely as a Russian composer.
From 1922 he lived in Paris. Having buried her mother in 1939 in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois (about which EUROMAG wrote earlier). For decades, Stravinsky toured extensively as a conductor in Europe and the United States, visiting Venice more than once.
It is worth noting that Igor Stravinsky never lived in Venice for a long time, but after his death in New York, the authorities of the “city on the water” agreed to allocate a place for the burial of the great musician. Later, his wife was buried next to him.
The Stravinsky family was buried in the so-called "Russian" part of the cemetery, next to the grave of another of our famous countrymen Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev.
One of the founders of the World of Art group and the organizer of the Russian Seasons in Paris, Sergei Diaghilev was supposed to become a lawyer, but after graduating from university, he took up art.
A few years later, he began to organize exhibitions, where he introduced the Russian public to masters completely unknown then in Russia and modern trends in the visual arts.
However, for Europe, Diaghilev is primarily known as the father of the Russian Seasons. It was he who held the “Historical Russian Concerts”, in which N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. V. Rachmaninov, A. K. Glazunov, F. I. Chaliapin and other famous Russian musicians and performers participated. The beginning of the "Russian era" in Europe is associated with the activities of Diaghilev.
In 1908 seasons of Russian opera took place. Despite the success, the season brought losses to Diaghilev, so the next year, knowing the tastes of the public, he decided to take the ballet to Paris, although he treated it with disdain.
In 1911, Diaghilev organized the Diaghilev Russian Ballet company. The troupe began performing in 1913 and lasted until 1929, that is, until the death of its organizer.
Diaghilev died of diabetes, which was diagnosed in 1921. According to contemporaries, he almost did not follow the prescribed diet, as he was busy all the time.
On the marble tombstone, the name of Diaghilev is engraved in Russian and in French (Serge de Diaghilew) and the epitaph: “Venice is the constant inspirer of our reassurance” - a phrase written by him shortly before his death in a dedicatory inscription to Serge Lifar. On the pedestal next to the photograph of the impresario, there are almost always ballet shoes (they are stuffed with sand so that they are not blown away by the wind).
Like Stravinsky, Diaghilev almost did not live in Venice, but it was this city that he considered an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the entire art world.
Venice became a haven not only for Russian, but also for Soviet emigrants. One of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century Joseph Brodsky also found his final resting place in Italy.
The poet, born and raised behind the Iron Curtain, had a dream - to see Venice. He called it the fix idea, it was inspired by the novels of Henri de Regnier.
On June 4, 1972, Brodsky, deprived of Soviet citizenship, flew from Leningrad to Vienna. He taught the history of Russian literature, Russian and world poetry, the theory of verse, lectured and read poetry at international literary festivals and forums, in libraries and universities in the USA, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Sweden, Italy. Received American citizenship.
On January 28, 1996, the poet died and was buried in the United States. The proposal to reburial him in Russia was rejected, but on June 21, 1997, the poet's grave was nevertheless moved. One of the outstanding Russian poets found his last resting place at the San Michele cemetery in Venice.
Initially, the poet's body was planned to be buried in the Russian half of the cemetery between the graves of Stravinsky and Diaghilev, but this turned out to be impossible, since Brodsky was not Orthodox. The Catholic clergy also refused to be buried. As a result, they decided to bury the body in the Protestant part of the cemetery.
Also buried on San Michele Petr Weil- Russian and American journalist, writer and radio host, like Brodsky, who emigrated from the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
Interestingly, he was the compiler of several collections of works by Joseph Brodsky.
“And I swore that if I could get out of my native empire, ... then first of all I would go to Venice, rent a room on the ground floor of some palazzo, so that the waves from passing boats splashed through the window, I would write a couple of elegies, extinguishing cigarettes on a damp stone floor I’ll cough and drink, and when I run out of money, instead of a train ticket, I’ll buy a small Browning and blow my brains out on the spot, unable to die in Venice from natural causes. (Joseph Brodsky "Embankment of the incurable").
San Michele in Isola
The island of San Michele got its name from the church named after St. Michael the Archangel located on it. Back in the 10th century, there was a harbor in its place, where the boats of local residents moored. The temple was designed by the Italian architect Mauro Coducci, who became famous for the clock tower of St. Mark on the square of the same name in Venice. San Michele in Isola is considered one of the first Venetian churches of the Renaissance.
By order of Napoleon, San Michele was taken under a cemetery for locals.
John Andrew, a well-known critic, wrote in his book "Early Renaissance Venetian Architecture" that the new solution found by Coducci would become an example for subsequent buildings. And so it happened - many churches in Venice were built on the model of San Michele. Previously, the temples in the city were built exclusively of bricks, while Coducci built his church of white stone.
Monastery and prison
There used to be a monastery on the island of San Michele
In 1212, a monastery was built on the island, in which for years a huge library for those times was collected - more than 200 thousand volumes and manuscripts. For some time the monastery was turned into a political prison where important criminals were kept. Among them were, for example, the revolutionaries Silvio Pellico and Pietro Maroncelli. They were imprisoned in Venetian dungeons, which were called "priombi" because of the lead roofs. Pellico was sentenced to death but later commuted to 15 years in Spielberg Prison.
resting place
In 1807, Napoleon ordered that the island of San Michele and nearby San Cristoforo be given over to a cemetery for the locals. Before that, there was absolutely no place to bury the Venetians - the dead were either burned or buried in the cellars of churches and even palaces. Soon the channel between the two islands was filled up and they were merged into one. Since the beginning of the 19th century, all citizens began to be buried at San Michele.
The cemetery itself is divided into three parts - Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish. Separately, there is the so-called "Children's Alley", where the smallest inhabitants of the city are buried. Famous people from different countries also lie in the cemetery. Here you can find the graves of the famous mathematician and physicist Christian Doppler and the English poet Frederic Rolf, the Slovenian painter Zoran Muzic and the Italian composer Luigi Nono.
Brodsky, Diaghilev and Stravinsky are buried at San Michele
One of the most famous "inhabitants" of the island of the dead is Joseph Brodsky. On the reverse side of the monument to the poet, there is an engraved inscription in Latin "Letum non omnia finit" - "Everything does not end with death." Nearby is the grave of Ezra Pound, an American translator who worked with Brodsky. On San Michele lies also Peter Vail, a journalist and writer, a friend of the poet.
In the same cemetery, the Stravinsky couple found their last resting place. Igor and Vera Stravinsky lie side by side, and next to them is Sergei Diaghilev. Interestingly, it was the famous organizer of the Russian Seasons in Paris who introduced the composer to his future wife. Dancers from all over the world bring ballet shoes to Diaghilev's grave as a token of gratitude.
