Ghetto Ebraico — Attraction in Venice

The Jewish Ghetto of Venice is located in the Cannaregio district, divided into the Ghetto Nuovo ("New Ghetto"), and the adjacent Ghetto Vecchio ("Old Ghetto"). The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were forced to live by the government of the Venetian Republic. As early as the 11th century, that is, in the Middle Ages, Jews appeared in the city of the lagoon. According to tradition, the Jewish presence became strong above all in a district, which for this reason took its name in the Giuedecca district, previously called Spinalonga. Over time to the jewish were forbidden to live in Venice. Only in 1516 a decree of the government of the Venetian Republic established that the community should live in the same area, that of the Fondamenta: the ghetto. The English word ghetto is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. Ghetto comes from the Italian word gettare which means "throw away", because the area was before then a waste dump for foundries. The Venetian Ghetto was instituted on 29 March 1516. In 1797 the French Army in Italy, commanded by the 28 year old General Napoleon Bonaparte, occupied Venice, forced the Venetian Republic to dissolve itself on 12 May 1797, and ended the ghetto's separation from the city on 11 July the same year. In the 19th century, the ghetto was renamed the Contrada dell'unione. The ghetto was connected to the rest of the city by two bridges that were only open during the day. Gates were opened in the morning at the ringing of the marangona, the largest bell in St. Mark's Campanile, and locked in the evening. Permanent, round-the-clock surveillance of the gates occurred at the Jewish residents' expense. Strict penalties were to be imposed on any Jewish resident caught outside after curfew. Areas of Ghetto Nuovo that were open to the canal were to be sealed off with walls, while outward facing quays were to be bricked over in order to make it impossible for unauthorized entry or exit. Though it was home to a large number of Jews, the population living in the Venetian Ghetto never assimilated to form a distinct, "Venetian Jewish" ethnicity. Four of the five synagogues were clearly divided according to ethnic identity: separate synagogues existed for the German (the Scuola Grande Tedesca), Italian (the Scuola Italiana), Spanish and Portuguese (the Scuola Spagnola), and Levantine Sephardi communities (the Scuola Levantina). The fifth, the Scuola Canton, was possibly built as a private synagogue and also served the Venetian Ashkenazi community. Today, there are also other populations of Ashkenazic Jews in Venice, mainly Lubavitchers who operate a kosher food store, a yeshiva, and a Chabad synagogue. Today, the Ghetto is still a center of Jewish life in the city. The Jewish community of Venice. In the Ghetto area there is also a yeshiva, several Judaica shops, and a Chabad synagogue run by Chabad of Venice. Although only few of the roughly 500 Venetian Jews still live...

As a decedent of the holocaust, I am absolutely disgusted by the treatment I received and the profiting off of trauma at this ghetto. My grandmother — whose 9 siblings and parents were murdered in a concentration camp — would want me to view this cruel history and visit a symbol of Judaism, the ghetto’s synagogue. Being on a very tight budget and having little to no money (it cost 12.5 Euros just to walk through) I kindly asked the workers if I can view the synagogue and walk through the gates my people were confined in. I was met with NO sympathy and even aggression. One worker, with hostility, said “yeah, well everyone was affected,” YET more than 99% of the people in Venice are non-Jews, only 14 Jews in Venice survived, and there are only around 400 Jews presently living in Venice. Another worker (guarding the synagogue) practically yelled at me and my friends, and said “this is not free, this is a museum.” A synagogue is a PLACE OF WORSHIP for me and my ancestors, it is only a museum BECAUSE it has been privatized by these people. This was a site of injustice, it shouldn’t be an expensive tourist attraction. I was tearing and choking up talking to these workers, and not one of them offered any apology. I left enraged, hurt, and pained for my ancestors. Truly horrible experience, Disgusting that decedents of survivors aren’t allowed to give respect to their lost...

We took the self guided audio tour. The information is available via wifi download that you play on your own device. We made it about half way through and the information had some interesting points to make but was presented quite dryly, but maybe that is fitting for the content and context. Unfortunately, was a little glitchy so needed to re-download several times.

The reason for the poor rating is the service. We were denied entry into one of the synagogues because half our group found the content too boring and they had left with our green sticker badges. The guards were rude and obnoxious and wouldn’t listen to reason, saying that the cards we were issued didn’t count as tickets because they could have been given to us by others. The stupid and frustrating thing is, is that the same could be said about the green sticker. It’s not like there was a massive line of people...