Venice has reopened a temporary 50ft-wide arched wooden walkway to the cemetery island of San Michele for All Souls’ Day, the first such installation since the Covid pandemic. The bridge opened for residents on Thursday and will be available to visitors from Nov 2 through Nov 9. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro described the crossing as a way to reconnect history with living people, and locals said they welcome the rare opportunity to visit graves on foot. The San Michele link is the longest of three seasonal temporary crossings the city erects each year.
Venice Reopens Arched 50ft Floating Walkway to San Michele for All Souls’ Day
Venice has reopened a temporary 50ft-wide arched wooden walkway to the cemetery island of San Michele for All Souls’ Day, the first such installation since the Covid pandemic. The bridge opened for residents on Thursday and will be available to visitors from Nov 2 through Nov 9. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro described the crossing as a way to reconnect history with living people, and locals said they welcome the rare opportunity to visit graves on foot. The San Michele link is the longest of three seasonal temporary crossings the city erects each year.
11:32, 03.11.2025Culture
Temporary bridge reconnects Venetians and visitors to island cemetery
Venice has installed a temporary wooden bridge to the cemetery island of San Michele for All Souls’ Day, the first such crossing since the Covid-19 pandemic. The floating, arched walkway — roughly 50ft wide — opened on Thursday for residents and will be open to visitors from Nov 2 through Nov 9.
The gently arched structure allows water taxis, vaporetti (water buses) and emergency boats to pass beneath. Officials say the walkway provides a pedestrian route across the lagoon so people can pay respects on the Catholic day of remembrance.
Luigi Brugnaro, mayor of Venice: “We have proposed it once more so we can reconnect history with living people. It’s a concrete journey. It’s not fake, not philosophical. By foot, over the water, a beautiful route that makes you understand a lot of things about Venice.”
Local resident Antonio Vespignani said: “I usually don’t go to the cemetery but I’m taking advantage of this very rare circumstance. It’s a way for me to visit my loved ones.”
Historically, the earliest crossings were simple boats lashed together and covered with planks; the practice was abandoned in the 1950s after vaporetti made access easier. A similar temporary bridge returned in 2019 but was then halted by the coronavirus outbreak.
The San Michele walkway — which lies close to Murano — is the longest of three seasonal temporary crossings currently erected in Venice. The city also installs a span across the Giudecca Canal for the annual Feast of the Redentore in late July and a temporary crossing over the Grand Canal for the Nov 21 Feast of the Madonna della Salute. Venice continues to be crisscrossed by hundreds of permanent footbridges over its canals.
Visitor information: the bridge opened to residents on Thursday and will be accessible to the general public from Nov 2 until Nov 9; visitors should follow local signage and stewarding while the walkway is in place.