To ask of anyone recognises this strange mystery place in Venice?

[HairyShins]

I'd love it if someone could explain this! We'd been to Venice before and since but have never found evidence of this place. It was pre smartphone.

We got lost and were in a residential square with an arch over the middle. The arch had stone leaves. The fog suddenly came in and someone shouted something AT us as they closed their shutters.

We left the square and were on a new wooden walkway above the water. The walkway went down the side of a modern red brick building. We couldn't see the top of the building because of the fog. No markings/windows etc on the building.

The walkway changed to an older wooden walkway without us noticing. We hadn't seen anyone since being shouted at but then maybe 6 or 8 men walked past us going the other way. Not together but over a few minutes (I joked about them being like buses). They didn't pay any attention to us but I thought they were dressed a bit odd but I don't remember why.

Suddenly the fog cleared a little. To our left was an island with a few houses on. The houses looked like 1950s UK bungalows. The windows were smashed and the curtains were fluttering out of them. The gardens in front of them were dead. One front door was swinging open but not making a noise.

The walkway and building was still going off into the fog in front of us.

We got a feeling that we shouldn't be there (not a supernatural feeling, more of a we're in a restricted area feeling) so turned round and went back the way we came. The fog came back in, we didn't see anyone else. The old walkway became new without us noticing (again).

There was nowhere we could have left the walkway but when we got back we were in a different square to the one we left.

We hadn't looked at our watches but realised that this walk had taken over 6 hours! So this modern red brick building was literally miles long! With an island with abandoned British houses next to it.

The people in the hotel didn't know what we were talking about. We tried to retrace our steps but have never found the square with the arch. We've never been able to find any evidence of this building or the island.

Any ideas where we were, or even what the island was about? ?

Time slip...

Have you tried searching images for "modern buildings Venice" or similar? Probably your best best is image searches or try to retrace your footsteps on googlemaps and look at buildings as you go along.

Google “abandoned houses on Venice island”

So many images come up. See if there is anything you recognise.

There are abandoned islands in the Venice lagoon, one of which used to have a mental hospital and is said to be haunted. Might it have been this? I’ve not been to Venice so I don’t know how close you can get to it from the mainland

Poveglia Island?

We've googled/researched all sorts over the years but have never found anything even vaguely similar.

We tried to retrace our steps the following day and looked at maps with the hotel staff. The times we've been back we've kept an eye out for the arch, modern red brick buildings etc and have never seen anything.

I don't believe in time slips but even if I did, what we saw wouldn't fit in with that idea.

I'm aware it was a long time ago and I have lots of other memories about it that may not be accurate now. The above is definitely true though.

You're going to have to go back again and look for it. Sounds spooky like the start of a film.

@Somanysocks

You're going to have to go back again and look for it. Sounds spooky like the start of a film.

Don't look back with Donald Sutherland and a very risqué sex scene!

It wasn't Poveglia. We were still on the mainland and the island we saw was only small (although the fog could have hidden the rest of it). Thinking about it, if was only just above sea level. Which is even weirder.

If it was just me, I'd honestly think I was just getting confused/mis remembered.

It was a bit spooky! I'm not sure anyone ever believes me if I tell them.

The hotel staff thought we were stupid and making up stories.

If only I was a good writer!

@massistar is married to a Venetian so they may be able to help?

We were still on the mainland

Sorry but just to try to clarify all this, NY Ms Land, do you mean main island?

Or do you mean the mainland that the islands of Venice are lying off?

If it's the main island, which district of it were you staying in?

*by mainland

Tronchetto? images.app.goo.gl/GZZAC2QSyn3dVmP4A

Could you have been on Giudecca?

See here what it looks like: www.veneziaunica.it/en/content/island-giudecca

Sorry, I meant the main island. :)
We were just wondering around, doing touristy things. I'm not sure where in Venice we were now. We'd not long had breakfast. It would have been March time I think.
The house island was close enough to see the broken windows.

I was also going to say Giudecca, based on some of the more modern developments: hiddenarchitecture.net/giudecca/

But it wouldn’t have taken hours to walk along and if you’re really sure it was the main island then it can’t be.

Was it in the Arsenale?

It does sound like it could have been the Arsenale, part of it is a military zone and there is an arch and wooden bridges.

Venice is tiny. If you were walking for 6 hours, you left the main island or you were going in circles.

The Arco del Paradiso is near the Ponte del Paradiso, though it is over a street, Calle del Paradiso, rather than a square. It's an atmospheric place in the Castello district.

Can you work out your route from the hotel, how far or for how long you'd walked from it. Where was your hotel, how far from or near to the centre or what district?

rossiwrites.com/italy/italian-art-culture/arco-paradiso-sestiere-castello-venice/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_del_Paradiso