Jewish Ghetto of Venice

The Jewish Ghetto of Venice occupies a compact island in the Cannaregio district, centred on Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, in Italy's Veneto region. On 29 March 1516 the Venetian Senate ordered that the city's Jews live on the site of a former foundry, the geto, from which the word ghetto is widely believed to derive. Jews were locked in at night by gates guarded by Christian watchmen, and were allowed to work as moneylenders, doctors and second-hand dealers. Because the population could not expand outward, buildings grew upward, and the tall tenements around the campo, some of the tallest in Venice at the time, remain a defining feature. The area was extended to the Ghetto Vecchio in 1541 and the Ghetto Nuovissimo in 1633, and communities of Ashkenazi, Italian, Levantine and Sephardic Jews each built their own synagogue, often hidden inside ordinary buildings with only small windows revealing them. The Jewish Museum of Venice (Museo Ebraico), founded in 1954 on Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, displays silver Torah ornaments, textiles, manuscripts, marriage contracts and ritual objects. Guided tours led by the museum visit three or more of the synagogues, including the Scola Grande Tedesca of 1528 and the Scola Levantina, known for its baroque woodwork. Venetian Jewish printing in the 16th century, including editions of the Talmud, established the city as a centre of Hebrew publishing. The Ghetto was opened in 1797 after Napoleon's arrival and formally abolished in 1866; during the Second World War, in 1943 and 1944, more than 200 members of the Venetian Jewish community were deported, commemorated by bronze bas-reliefs by Arbit Blatas at the campo. A living community remains, with kosher shops and a bakery. Restoration of the synagogues was completed with international funding in the 2000s, and the museum has been renovated since.