For centuries, the island of San Servolo in the Venetian Lagoon was a place of exile. In 1725, it was designated as the official psychiatric hospital for Venice, earning it the nickname The Island of Madmen. Initially managed by the religious Order of San Giovanni di Dio, it was a place where those deemed socially dangerous or insane were sent to be removed from the public eye. The isolation of the island meant that patients were effectively cut off from society, living in a self-contained world of stone walls and cold water. Conditions varied over the centuries, but the hospital was known for its early experiments in moral treatment and, later, more clinical psychiatric methods. The hospital finally closed in 1978 following Italian mental health reforms. Today, the site houses a museum that displays disturbing historical medical instruments, straitjackets, and patient records, serving as a somber monument to the history of mental health treatment and the stigma of the past.