Venice revives a quarter-mile floating bridge to island cemetery for All Souls' Day mourners

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Venice’s San Michele island is the final resting place of American poet Ezra Pound, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and many Venetians known only to their loved ones.

The city of Venice this year revived a long-dormant tradition of constructing a temporary bridge to allow Venetians to make the solemn 400-meter (quarter-mile) lagoon crossing by foot to pay respects to their dead on the Catholic All Souls’ holiday.

In its original form, the crossing was made out of Venetian “peata” boats lashed together, topped with walking planks and anchored to the lagoon bed. The practice was stopped in the 1950s, probably as more regular public water buses made the island easier to reach.

After an absence of some seven decades, the bridge was revived in 2019 with a modular pontoon construction, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted plans to make it an annual fixture — until this year.

“We have proposed it once more so we can reconnect history with living people,’’ Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said last week. "It's a concrete journey. It's not fake, not philosophical. By foot, over the water, a beautiful route that make you understand a lot of things about Venice.''

The lagoon city of Venice is patched together by hundreds of foot bridges. But the city has historically built temporary bridges on just two other occasions, which endure: across the Giudecca Canal for the annual Feast of the Redentore (Redeemer) in late July, and across the Grand Canal for the Nov. 21 Feast of the Madonna della Salute.

The floating walkway to San Michele island near Murano is the longest of the three, traversing a relatively shallow area of the lagoon from the Fondamente Nove. The temporary bridge arches upward to allow water taxis, buses and ambulances and other boat traffic to pass by. Its modern construction allows it to easily withstand high tides of 1 meter (over 3 feet), officials said.

It opened on Thursday in anticipation of All Souls' Day, when Italians visit cemeteries to pay respects to their loved ones. Only residents were allowed on the 15-meter (50-foot)-wide bridge through the Sunday holiday. It will open to tourists on Monday.

“I usually don’t go to the cemetery for various reasons, but I’m taking advantage of this very rare circumstance, “ Antonio Vespignani said on Thursday. ”It’s a way for me to visit my loved ones.”

Zhang Miao, a Chinese tourist, arrived on the island out of curiosity by ferry on Sunday, but didn't know it was a cemetery. “To return to the mainland, I used the bridge, which is much more convenient and, what’s more, it’s free,” she said.

The cemetery was established in 1807, after Napoleon decreed that burial be moved away from the city. It took its name from the island’s 15th-century church. It was later expanded, when a canal between a neighboring island was filled in.

San Michele remains the principal burial ground for Venice’s historic center — even as much of the city's population moves to the mainland.

Mourners walk on the 'Votif' Bridge, a 407m temporary floating bridge connecting the city to the cemetery on the island of San Michele, to pay respects to their dead on All Soul's Day, in Venice, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Mourners pay respects to their dead, at the San Michele cemetery, on All Soul's Day, in Venice, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Mourners walk on the 'Votif' Bridge, a 407m temporary floating bridge connecting the city to the cemetery on the island of San Michele, to pay respects to their dead on All Soul's Day, in Venice, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Mourners walk at the San Michele cemetery on the island of San Michele to pay respects to their dead on All Soul's Day, in Venice, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Mourners walk on the 'Votif' Bridge, a 407m temporary floating bridge connecting the city to the cemetery on the island of San Michele, to pay respects to their dead on All Soul's Day, in Venice, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

BOSTON (AP) — New England Patriots star wide receiver Stefon Diggs is facing strangulation and other criminal charges in connection with a dispute with his former private chef, police said.

News of the charges emerged after a court hearing Tuesday in Dedham, Massachusetts. Diggs is charged with felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery.

Diggs’ lawyer, David Meier, said in an emailed statement that Diggs “categorically denies these allegations.”

Meier said the allegations never occurred, describing them as unsubstantiated and uncorroborated.

“The timing and motivation for making the allegations is crystal clear: they are the direct result of an employee-employer financial dispute that was not resolved to the employee’s satisfaction,” Meier wrote.

In a statement, the Patriots said they were also standing by Diggs: “We support Stefon,” the team said.

A police narrative in a court filing about the case said a woman came to the Dedham Police Department on Dec. 16 to say that two weeks earlier, while working as a private chef for Diggs, he came into her bedroom and became angry during a discussion about money. The woman told police Diggs “smacked her across the face,” she tried to push him away and then he “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck.”

“She said that he was behind her with his arm wrapped around her,” wrote Officer Kenneth J. Ellis. “She said that she did feel like she had trouble breathing and that she felt like she could have blacked out.” Diggs threw her on a bed and said “lies” when she told him she had not been paid, Ellis wrote.

The chef sought payment for a week in November when Diggs was having houseguests and she had to go home, Ellis wrote. The woman “left her position” and the home in Dedham but returned on Dec. 9 to retrieve her property. At that point, she told police, Diggs referred her to his assistant, who told the woman she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before she would be paid. She did not sign it, police said.

The woman was reluctant to file charges until last week, Ellis wrote, when “she let me know that she had changed her mind from a few days ago” and wanted criminal charges.

Diggs, 32, established himself as one of the NFL’s best wide receivers during a run with Minnesota and Buffalo from 2018 to 2023, when he had six consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and was selected to the Pro Bowl four times.

After a lackluster stint in Houston last year, Diggs ended up in New England, signing a three-year, $69 million deal in free agency that guaranteed him $26 million.

Diggs has proven a reliable target for second-year quarterback Drake Maye and is a big reason why the team has once again clinched the AFC East title as the team heads toward the playoffs.

Off the field, though, his tenure with the Patriots got off to a rocky start when a video surfaced on social media in May showing Diggs passing what appeared to be a bag of pink crystals to women on a boat.

It wasn’t clear what the substance was, and an NFL spokesperson said the league would not comment. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said the team would handle that matter internally.

FILE - New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs (8) leaves the field following an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov 23, 2025, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AP Photo/Peter Joneleit, File)

New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs (8) runs against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)