Jewish History in Venice

....a introduction to Jewish themes in Venice...


The Ghetto (originally a Venetian word meaning foundry) was established in 1516 as a segregated living area for the Jews of Venice. In that year there were approximately 1300 Jews living in Venice. Over time the ghetto population grew to a maximum of 5,000 in about 1650. During that period there were restaurants, schools, synagogues, shops, banks, and a 24 room hotel in the ghetto. Additionally, the original ghetto (Ghetto Novo) expanded into adjoining areas, as Sephardic and Levantine Jews arrived, which came to be called the Ghetto Vecchio and the Ghetto Novissimo). By the beginning of the Second World War, however, there were fewer than 1000 Jews living in Venice and not many in the ghetto area.

From 1516 till 1797 (the end of the Venetian Republic) the doors of the Ghetto were locked at midnight and re-opened at daybreak. Jews in the Ghetto spoke various languages: Hebrew, Greek, Italian, Yiddish, Venetian, German, Spanish, and Turkish. If there was a universal language it was a type of Judeo-Italiano which was spoken in other Jewish communities in Italy.

The Jews were a very important economic force in Venice since the 15th century. They were permitted to engage in money-lending, second hand goods dealing, trade, and to be physicians. Of course, the Jews did suffer restrictions, especially an excessively high tax rate. Also the moneylenders' interest rates were highly regulated by the Republic. The apogee of cultural and business life in Venice for the Jews was in the early 17th century. Then, there was a vibrant life in the Ghetto, with famous intellectuals such as poet Sara Copio Sullam, "La Bella Ebrea", and Rabbi Leone Modena, Venice's most renowned Jewish figure, an extraordinary man about town, revered in circles Jewish and Christian, religious and secular.

As the plague devastated Venice every three or four decades and as the Venetian Empire slowly but surely imploded, the Jews sought opportunities elsewhere (Amsterdam, London, etc.) and the population of the Hebrew University, as the Jewish community was called, declined. By the time of World War II the Jewish population in Venice was quite integrated into Venice and the Ghetto, still housing the 5 synagogues, had a sparse Jewish population. During the war, 246 Jews were sent to the death camps. (A moving memorial by Arbit Blata can be seen in the Ghetto Novo.) About 250 Jews still live in Venice and only two Jewish families still live in the Ghetto.

Today, there is a Jewish Museum in the Ghetto which provides short tours of two or three of the synagogues. Also, shabat services are held Fridays in the Spanish Synagogue. There is a kosher restaurant (Gam-Gam),  Chabas Lubavitcher, a bookshop, and many shops selling Jewish related products.

 In the Ghetto is located an excellent second-hand bookshop (Old World Books) which sells books in English and Italian about Venice and Italy. John Francis Phillimore is the proprietor.

Art in the ghetto...there is a terrific American painter named Tony Green who lives and works in the Ghetto and paints wonderful views of the Ghetto and of Venice. You can visit his studio and see his paintings which are often for sale. If you plan to visit the Ghetto, give him a call at 347 187 4825 or see www.tonygreen.net. Below are a few of his works:

Rio Romite                         Rialto Market                   Ponte de Guglie

Spanish Synagogue                               Ghetto Novo

© Howard Fitzpatrick