d 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 Venezia deals in Jewish religious objects and David’s Shop sells traditional items made of Murano glass, such as Hanukkah lamps. Denis Dittura at El Papussa Calagher makes soft-leather bags and purses and still repairs bags and shoes, a rare thing in Venice these days. Aboaf Enzo at the Stamperia del Ghetto sells, among other things, black-and-white prints of the old ghetto.
* Most places closed on Saturdays
Marie-José Gransard is author of Venice: A Literary Guide for Travellers, published by IB Tauris (£16.99). To order a copy for £13.59 including UK p&p visit the guardian bookshop or call on 0330 333 6846