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A HISTORY OF THE ISLAND

The island of Lazzaretto Novo (which means  New Lazaret,  so called to be distinguished from the island of Old Lazaret) has always been of great importance to Venice: located at the entrance of the lagoon, in the past, the island had the role of controlling the waterways towards the inner lands of the Republic.

It was initially used by a community of monks to produce one of the most important economic resources of the time, salt. During the XVI Century,  the island's destination was that of preventing the contagion of infectious diseases brought in by trading ships. In order to host the people in quarantine, 100 comfortable houses were built, equipped with sanitary facilities and private fireplaces.

In the Napoleonic period  (XVIII-XIX centuries)  and during the following Austrian domination, the role of Lazzaretto Novo changed, progressively abandoning the sanitary purpose to become a military base. Nevertheless,  its infrastructure continued to be used and modified according to the new needs. It was not until the beginning of the XX century that the 100 houses were demolished and the arches of the most important building of the island, the  Teson,  were walled up using the bricks from the demolished buildings.  The Teson became a large powder-magazine,  which added to the two pre-existing powder trenches.

These facts reveal that over the centuries the island has been in a continuous process of adaptation to the changing needs with a view to the economy and optimization of the available resources, a process which today we'd refer to as a remarkable example of recycling and reuse.

 

AMPHORAE

In the ancient Greek-Roman era, the Venice lagoon was the port area of Altino, an important Roman town and a  thriving trading post toward the  Mediterranean. At that time,  grains, wine, and oil were transported on ships stored in earthenware jars called “amphorae”. After they had been emptied of their contents, amphorae were wisely reused in the most diverse ways. Just to mention the most striking one, in the Altino lagoon every single earthenware fragment of broken amphorae, or potsherd was recycled in the reinforcement of lagoon banks as well as roadsides, using an advanced technology. Well before the advent of the Republic of Venice, the amphorae technology was gradually abandoned, probably due to the high amount of lead that was used to treat potsherds which slowly but inexorably contaminated the waters and foods of the ancient Romans, who were unaware of the danger.

In spite of these consequences, the recycling of potsherds remains one of the most ingenious and efficient methods of waste reuse in history as well as an advanced environmental engineering technique that was to be developed and perfected in the following centuries.

TODAY

Lazzaretto Novo is currently part of a program called "For the resurgence of the island" and numerous workshops are held here during the year.  One of these projects is the “phytophthalmic plant”, a wastewater treatment that purifies sewage through lagoon plants, while rainwater is separately processed. Sewage is first cleaned from oil and grease and subsequently purified by plants (Phragmites australis). The purification process concludes with water being sent into a tank divided into three parts, and from here through an artificial pond into the lagoon.

 

--Ms. Paola Sega, History of art and technical drawing, has involved a class in a shorter research on the reuse of building materials and architectonic elements in Venice.

Link to MEGA:

https://mega.nz/#!p0M1mYLS!ccTEMhbKZjcANLu0pXI3GQ3HV8VEukB7n1UlDODnFvw

 

Reuse of the dismissed gasometers area near our school

 

Of the original 5 gasometers built just behind our school in the 1880s and all dismissed in the 1960s, there survive two that since then have been the object of various plans and destinations for the benefit of the local community.

 

In 2002 the town councilzones the area for use as school/sports facilities and integrated community services. But no actual recovery takes place and the area remains industrial wasteland to this day.

 

However, as a result of the 2008 national law facilitating the sale of public property, in 2012 the Venice municipal council modifies the zoning of several areas, including the dismissed gasometers area which now can be privatised and used for housing development with no provision for any community service.

 

When they are officially informed of the new status of the area, the principals of the schools around the gasometers, all of which lack any sports/PE facilities,write various letters of protest which remain unheeded. In 2016, Ms. Elisabetta Xausa, History & Philosophy teacher at Benedetti, involves one of her classes in a research of the history of and municipal legislationover the area.

The students' reconstruction of the site's history includes interviews to former city plannersandlocal activists which feature in the video they have produced.

 

In spring 2017 IIS Benedetti-Tommaseo organises a demonstration of students and teachers claiming the school community's rights over the area.

Mr. Pellegrinotti, the Italian teacher who runs the school's photography and video workshop, and Ms. Zernitz, English teacher and coordinator of the E+ project "The Art of Recycling and Reuse", realise that the reuse of the dismissed gasometers' area falls within the topics addressed bytheir project and decide to produce a video in English which is torecap the main points of the chronicle concerning the reuse of the gasometers' area. They want it to be made known to the partner schools in the forthcoming transnational Agen meeting. Venice Acebo, student of grade 4A, accepts to collaborate and present it through a video in English (http://exgasometro.venis.it/index.php/come-andata/).

 

For more info, see: http://exgasometro.venis.it