Islands AroundThe Venice Ghetto is a district in Cannaregio, and it dates from the 16th century. In fact, it was the first ghetto in Italy. The word “ghetto” probably comes from this place.
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The Venice Ghetto today
The Ghetto still has its narrow streets and small squares. Five synagogues stand here, and the Jewish Museum is built next to the three oldest ones: the German, the Canton and the Italian.
In addition, the Levantine and Spanish synagogues stand nearby. The Spanish synagogue is the largest, while the Levantine one has rich decoration. The museum’s collection includes ritual objects in silver, old textiles and rare books. Also, the Ghetto is still a centre of Jewish life in Venice.
Where the word ghetto comes from
Experts do not agree on where the word “ghetto” comes from. Still, the most popular explanation points to the island where the Ghetto stands. Before the district existed, foundries stood there, and workers cast metal in them. In Italian, the verb gettare can mean to cast metal. So people called the place el getto, which means “the casting place”.
Also, old documents spell this name in several ways, such as ghèto, getto and geto. Later, the Jewish district took the name, and the word came to mean a place where people lived apart from others. Now it is used far beyond Venice.
How the Venice Ghetto began
Before the 16th century, few Jewish families lived in Venice itself. Most Jews lived on the mainland and came to the city only to trade. However, Venice later let Jews settle in the city centre, and many families chose the area near the Rialto. Preaching friars protested against this.
Even so, the Senate wanted the Jews to stay, because they helped the economy. Then it ordered them to live together on an island with old foundries, now called the Ghetto Nuovo. Canals surrounded the island, so only two bridges linked it to the rest of the city.
At night, guards kept the gates shut. The Jewish community had to pay for these guards. In addition, Jews had to wear a yellow cap in Venice, apart from a few exceptions. Because the law closed other trades to them, many worked as moneylenders or sold second-hand goods. Despite these limits, study and culture grew here, especially in the 17th century.
From the Nuovo to the Nuovissimo
First, German and Italian Jews settled in the Ghetto Nuovo, which means “New Ghetto”. Later in the 16th century, the Ghetto grew. Levantine Jews, who traded by sea, settled in the neighbouring area, and this part of the Ghetto became the Ghetto Vecchio, or “Old Ghetto”. Then many Sephardic Jews arrived. Spain and Portugal had expelled them, so they looked for a new home.
In the 17th century, more Sephardic Jews asked for houses next to the Ghetto Nuovo, and they received them. As a result, the Ghetto grew again, and this area became the Ghetto Nuovissimo, or “Newest Ghetto”.
Each group kept its own traditions. German Jews continued to use Yiddish, for example, and Sephardic Jews continued to speak Spanish.
From the 18th century to today
At the end of the 18th century, Napoleon’s army ended the Republic of Venice. As a result, the Jews became full citizens, and the gates of the Ghetto came down. Then the Ghetto stopped being a place of segregation. After that, Austria and France ruled Venice in turn, and in the 19th century the city became part of Italy.
In the 20th century, the community suffered during the years of Fascism and the Holocaust. Many of its members faced deportation to concentration camps, and most never returned. After World War II, survivors of the Jewish community founded Italy’s first Jewish museum here, which has grown since then.
