A private paradise with a Napoleonic past: Crevan, a tiny island in the Venetian Lagoon, is on the market for $6.2 million.

Isle Take It!

A private oasis in the Venetian Lagoon can be yours for $6.2 million. But as more of the lagoon’s islands go up for sale, locals are fighting to keep their sinking city from becoming a water park for the ultra-rich

By Giovanni Legorano

A tiny island in the middle of the Venetian Lagoon, complete with a Napoleonic fort and lush gardens, is for sale for $6.2 million. Crevan, which its real-estate agent markets as an “enchanting oasis of peace and beauty”—and locals pronounce with an emphasis on the a—is just a few minutes by boat from the islands of Burano and Torcello, but a world away from the bustling crowds of St. Mark’s Square.

The French military fortified the island in 1806 during the Napoleonic era as a strategic outpost to defend the northern lagoon against the Austrian Empire. After lying abandoned for decades, it was sold into private hands by the early 1960s and converted into a 2,300-square-foot villa, whose façade and layout cannot be modified.