Nel heart of the lagoonthere is a magic island that has unforgettable sunsets and fragile banks. Among these bars (the flat soils typical of lagoons, which end periodically submerged, ed), beaten by the sirocco and threatened by high water, Two sisters decided to build a future. And if the lagoon will be saved, it will also be thanks to them.
Martina and Anna Sarzetto, 36 and 31 years oldthey inherited the Valle Falconera, an extensive mixed environment terraacquaonce privileged by the falcons even before men. Years ago, they made a radical choice of life in a marginal Venice, To defend it from the climate change and the arrogance of mass tourism.
“The old fishermen call this corner of the lost sea lagoon,” comments Martina, Galfares calculated on the feet, “because the salted water enters and gets lost among the flaps of earth that emerged when the sirocco rises. We were girls when we passed the summers here. From afar we saw Venice, who for us was little more than a bell tower in a horizon of brackish water. A beautiful and unknown lagoon ».
The Falconera valley is an oasis with a handful of minutes by boat from Cavallino, in the heart of the north lagoon. A habitat that invites silence and contact with nature. But, beyond the scenographic aspect, hides the hard daily work to defend the banks from the wave motion, protect the fishing valleys and replacing the crop of the screw and horticulture. In this place where the campaign meets the lagoon, Anna and Martina have decided to live.
The family shared the choice
The drone photographed from the sky: 100 hectares, of which only 20 of land that emerged. Everything else is water. And defending the earth is a real battle. “How did we get here? You have to go back and talk about a great love story. That between grandfather Ernesto and his Wanda. It was he who gave her the island in the seventies. A romantic gift, for the 25 years of marriage, which has actually become a challenge for all of us ». Martina smiles. The grandfather felt a little while, but on the island he gave all of himself: he brought the running water, implanted beekeeping, then the valley fishing and agriculture.
Falconera Valley seen from above.
At his death the Falconera seemed destined for a new sunset. It has been going so for 500 years to this dogly island, where the principles of the Serenissima practiced hunting and fishing with the hawk, inhabited since ancient times by farmers. Over the centuries, the property passed by hand, the farmers chose the mainland and the Falcone became a suggestive but fatally misunderstood place. Those who bought it then got rid of it: until they arrived.
«I graduated in Economics and Martina studied architecture but six years ago, after the disastrous watercranda that submerged Venice and the lagoon, seriously endangering the existence of this place, we made our decision. The island would become our home and our future “ adds. “To share our madness Andrea, my partner, our parents and Filippo, Anna’s partner.” When the girls communicated the decision was a big party. Father’s friends started coming to the island for maintenance and carpentry works. But above all they taught Anna and Martina to capture the real clams, to take fish with their hands, to restore a boat. Because there are no cars here.
The Sarzetto sisters with the villa behind them.
Forget the postcard images, Living on an island means first of all effort. The rhythm is that of nature, so if in winter the main activity is to do wood to warm up, in the summer when the sun beats strongly working in the shade of the trees, under the beautiful hair of a holm oak. “We know we share the spaces with foxes and marters,” Martina intervenes. «Palustal turtles and many species of birds choose our island to lay the eggs. Among these, the Barbagianni, the common owl, the hawks, the fisherman and the foxes.Every year 160 Crugioni migrate from Africa and make the nest underground right here.
In the lagoon the work is cadenced by the seasons
The amphibious nature of the island could make it a perfect habitat for mosquitoes. But that’s not the case. “I would say that we have less problems in the city,” explains Anna. “Here are no tiger mosquitoes that are widespread where there is fresh water.” The other great theme is the cold. Living in winter to the Falconera means providing for its well -being. «We have a great thermostfish, and with this we heat the whole house. But it takes a lot of wood. Wood is our priority, a healthy obsession even in the summer. Since we would never think of breaking down a tree and transforming it into firewood, we recover dead plants and all the timber that we find on the island in spring and summer ».
The work is cadenced by the seasons. Fishing takes place mostly in autumn with the days of wind and rain. In spring and summer, the bitter green asparagus of the lagoon and the violet artichoke of Sant’Erasmo, both Slowfood principals, are grown. Remarkable treatments requires the orchard, with native plants. “We also recovered meletes and perish trying to tear them to the latest high waters.” Since 2024 the farm has been officially opened and the project is to create a farmhouse.
Another pillar is beekeeping: Falconera today produces a unique and salty honey typical of a land that dialogues with the sea. The work of returning the five rural buildings does not stop punishing the surface.«We managed to restore the master villa, with the fireplace room that looks like a little cave of the Grail and a wooden mezzanine that has repeatedly saved us from the funeral winter storms. Today we recovered another villa. “
Slow Tourism Paradise
The lagoon is a crystal ecosystem. Beautiful and delicate, it should be defended by the climate change and the arrogance of man.
«We are astonished to see how the weekend tourism ignores the fragility of the lagoon. Many boats enter the sea well beyond speed limits, unaware of the damage they cause ». To form the bare, the barena puts 100 years, the transformations that the man has made by deviating the rivers have slowed down the reconstitutive process and irresponsible tourism only increases the rhythm of erosion. «We fight every day with the difficulties of a generous but problematic nature. Our goal is that the lagoon becomes the Slo tourism paradiseW ».
For this reason, in 2018 Anna and Martina started the tourist lease. Few Spartan rooms, with a view of your breath, and an island to find yourself, read, go out on the boat. “If there is a time when we breathe the silent size of this nature is sunset, when the horizon fills with birds in search of a shelter for the night and the air full of salt is sticking to the nostrils”. Second star on the right, you find the island that is there.
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