A unique bike excursion, immersed in the nature of the Northern Lagoon at Sant’Erasmo, for centuries the vegetable garden of the “Serenissima”.
We cycle in the direction of Treporti to catch the lagoon boat that will take us to Sant’Erasmo, a service that carries cyclists with their bicycles.
Thirty minutes or so of navigation passing by Burano, with its houses of a thousand colours, San Francesco del Deserto, where St. Francis rested on his return from the Holy Land. A mini-cruise through the calm waters of the lagoon, between large and small islands.
We disembark with our bikes and pedal to the island of Sant’Erasmo, the largest in the lagoon, also called the “Venezia Minor”: it owes its name to the saints Hermes and Erasmus, protectors of sailors; the island has always supplied Venice with vegetables and fruit and has thus been considered the vegetable garden of Venice since the 16th century.
We cross with our bikes its entire territory on the only road present, where our gaze is lost between the green of the crops and the blue of the lagoon. The island is famous above all for its product of excellence, the “Violetto di Sant’Erasmo” artichoke, and for the Torre Massimiliana, an Austrian war building dating back to 1844 and commissioned by Archduke Maximilian of Austria to defend the Lido harbour mouth, where the archduke found refuge during the insurrectional uprisings of 1848.
Our tour of the island of about 10 kilometres is over. We embarke again with our bicycles for the return journey to Treporti.
A day that gave us nature, history and sport.