On your left, you can see the Island of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The name comes from a legend according to which a group of sailors returning from Constantinople carrying a portrait of the Virgin Mary had a vision communicating to them the divine will to make the island the new house for the portrait.
In 1810 Napoleon abruptly ended the spiritual tradition of the island, evicting the nuns and using the area as a weapons depot. For the majority of the 20th century, the island was a hospital for infectious diseases until its facilities proved to be inadequate for modern needs.
