llery and fur, was allowed. Christians attended concerts in the ghetto, and Christian architects and builders created synagogues. This Jewish melting pot had a lasting cultural impact on Venetian language, cuisine, music and dance.
By 1797 disease, war and politics had shrunk the population of the ghetto to 3,000. Napoleon’s troops brought an end to the Republic of Venice and to the ghetto; they burned down the gates, and French principles of liberty, equality and fraternity allowed the ghetto’s inhabitants at last to be free and equal. The poorest Jews remained in the ghetto, but many others left for other parts of the city, where they integrated, buying palaces on the Grand Canal and taking part in political life. Some contributed actively to the fight against Austrian occupation.
Race laws in Italy in 1938 affected the Jewish community dramatically. Jews were barred from the Lido beach, and dangerous discrimination began. After German troops arrived in 1944, Venetian Jews of all ages were gathered in the ghetto’s central campo and from there deported. Most of them never returned. A monument now commemorates this shameful event. Its seven bronze reliefs are dedicated to the six million victims of the Holocaust. It is the work of Arbit Blatas, a Lithuanian Jew. The panels are mounted on a wall below the barbed wire left by the Germans. An eighth panel, The Last Train, stands alone, inscribed with the names of the deported Venetian Jews. There are roughly six hundred Jews in Venice today; those in the ghetto include the residents of the Casa di Riposo, a home mainly for elderly Jews.
Events to commemorate the anniversary
There will be a public exhibition at the Doge’s Palace from 19 June to 13 November entitled Venice, the Jews and Europe 1516-2016. On 19 June Il Pomo d’Oro orhcestra will give a concert entitled Music Without Borders. The Ikona gallery, on the main campo, will host an exhibition, Peggy Guggenheim in Photographs, from 9 June to 9 October. The Jewish cemetery on the Lido will be open to visitors and Venetian Heritage’s planned restoration of the Jewish Museum will allow access to the Italian synagogue.
After looking at the powerful monument commemorating Jewish deportation , visitors can walk around the Ghetto Vecchio with its two striking Levantine and Spanish synagogues and finish in the Ghetto Novissimo. The wealthy Spanish Jews built their synagogue in the Ghetto Vecchio with its entrance at ground level. It has a beautiful interior with a carved pulpit and rich decoration, but visits can only be arranged through the Jewish Museum (see below). There is a little bridge crossing the canal between the original Ghetto Nuovo and the Ghetto Vecchio, from where local gondola tours can be arranged with the resident gondoliers. There is a helpful information point next to the new Majer bakery (which serves Venetian specialities).
Two synagogues were built on the upper floors of what is now the museum, founded in 1953, with a bookshop and cafe. Precious objects are on display but it also offers guided tours in various languages, including visits to some synagogues.
• Entrance to the museum and guided tours to synagogues €10 adults, €8 concessions, museoebraico.it
The only remaining of the first three banks in the world (and the origin of the expression ‘to be in the red’) is worth a visit. There you can read a short history of the ghetto and early banking.
• €2 adults, €1.50 concessions, bancorosso.org
You can eat inside and outside at Al Faro, Upupa and Banco Rosso restaurants; they serve pizza and typical Venetian dishes. For Jewish food try Gam Gam restaurant-patisserie: it has a pleasant terrace by the Cannaregio canal. The lunchtime meze menu is good and cheap, but it is wise to book. For the full experience Giardino dei Melograni (Pomegranate Garden) specialises in kosher, vegetarian and vegan cuisine and will also have fish on its menu. It has a large garden and has recently added a hotel.
The old bakery, Panificio Volpe Giovanni, sells local bread and biscuits. Diego Baruch Fusetti’s Arte Ebraica Shalom 