Museo del Manicomio

Giudecca, Lido & the Southern Islands


As well as a poignant collection of patients' before-and-after photos, this small museum contains the full paraphernalia of psychiatric treatment of the day, including chains, handcuffs, cages for ice showers, early electro-therapy machines and a rare plethysmograph (the precursor of the lie detector). The visit also takes in an 18th-century pharmacy and church, and a dissection room full of skulls and preserved brains. Tours only take around 30 minutes, but afterwards you're free to potter around the museum.


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