The Jewish Ghetto in the Cannaregio district of Venice was instituted in 1516. Jews were permitted to leave the ghetto during the day to work, but they had to return at night. The gates were then locked and guarded by Christian watchmen whose salaries the Jews were required to pay. The Venetian ghetto was the first ghetto in the world and where the term 'ghetto' originated.
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The Ghetto

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In medieval times this part of Cannaregio housed a getto (foundry), but it was as the designated Jewish quarter from the 16th to 19th centuries that the word acquired a whole new meaning. In accordance with the Venetian Republic’s 1516 decree, by day Jewish lenders, doctors and clothing merchants were permitted to attend to Venice's commercial interests, but at night and on Christian holidays they were locked within the gated island of the Ghetto Nuovo (New Foundry).

When Jewish merchants fled the Spanish Inquisition for Venice in 1541, there was no place left in the Ghetto to go but up: in buildings around the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, upper storeys housed new arrivals, synagogues and publishing houses. A plain wooden cupola in the corner of the campo (square) marks the location of the Schola Canton. Next door is the Schola Tedesca, while the rooftop Schola Italiana is a simple synagogue built by newly arrived and largely destitute Italian Jews, who had fled from Spanish-controlled southern Italy.

As numbers grew, the Ghetto was extended into the neighbouring Ghetto Vecchio (Old Foundry), creating the confusing situation where the older Jewish area is called the New Ghetto and the newer is the Old Ghetto. Sephardic Jewish refugees raised two synagogues in Campo del Ghetto Vecchio that are considered among the most beautiful in northern Italy, lavishly rebuilt in the 17th century. The Schola Levantina, founded in 1541, has a magnificent 17th-century woodworked pulpit, while the Schola Spagnola, founded around 1580, shows just how Venetian the community had become through a demonstrated flair for Venetian architectural flourishes: repeating geometric details, high-arched windows, and exuberant marble and carved-wood baroque interiors.

After Venice fell to Napoleon in 1787 the city's Jews experienced six months of freedom before the Austrian administration restricted them to the Ghetto once again. It wasn't until Venice joined with Italy in 1866 that full emancipation was gained, but even that was short-lived. Many of Venice's Jews fled before the Nazi occupation, but 246 were arrested and sent to concentration camps between 1943 and 1944; only eight survived. A memorial consisting of harrowing bas-reliefs and the names and ages of those killed now lines two walls facing Campo del Ghetto Nuovo.

You can stroll around this peaceful precinct by day and night, but the best way to experience the Ghetto is on a guided tour of three of the synagogues offered by the Museo Ebraico, departing hourly from 10.30am.

Transportation

  • ferry: Guglie

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1. Schola Italiana

0.02 MILES

The wooden cupola of the 1575 Italian Synagogue protrudes above private apartments at the centre of the Ghetto's main square. The Italians were the…

2. Schola Tedesca

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The Schola Tedesca has been the spiritual home of Venice’s Ashkenazi community since 1528. By 16th-century Venetian law, only the German Jewish community…

3. Museo Ebraico

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This museum explores the history of Venice’s Jewish community and showcases its pivotal contributions to Venetian, Italian and world history. Opened in…

4. Schola Canton

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The Schola Canton was built c 1531, with gilded rococo interiors added in the 18th century. Though European synagogues typically avoid figurative imagery,…

5. Schola Levantina

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Sometimes called the Turkish Synagogue, the Schola Levantina was founded in 1541 as the first to serve the Ghetto's Sephardic community. Its renovated…

6. Schola Spagnola

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The Ghetto's largest synagogue was founded by Portuguese and Spanish refugees around 1580. Its current grand incarnation, dating from the 17th century,…

7. Arzanà

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