Venice: July 27th through 30th
Beautiful city, great food, the perfect place if you like getting lost
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| at the Jewish Ghetto |
The Venetian
Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It is from its name in Italian ("ghetto"), that the
English word "ghetto" is derived: in the Venetian language it was named
"ghèto". The Venetian Ghetto (incidentally, the first Ghetto) was
instituted in 1516, though political restrictions on Jewish rights and
residences existed before that date.
In 1516 the Venetian Government issued
special laws creating the first Ghetto of Europe. It was an area where Jews
were forced to live and which they could not leave from sunset to dawn. The
area was closed by gates watched by guards (the marks of the
hinges are visible). Jews were allowed to practice only some professions:
they were doctors, because they were the most prepared and able to understand
Arab writings, money lenders, because Catholic religion forbade this practice,
merchants and "strazzarioli", ragsellers. The Ghetto existed for more
than two and a half centuries, until Napoleon conquered Venice and finally
opened and eliminated every gate (1797): Jews were finally free to live in
other areas of the city.
Today, the Ghetto is still a center of
Jewish life in the city. Every
year, there is an international conference on Hebrew Studies held there.
Although only around 300 of Venice's roughly 1,000 Jews still live in the
Ghetto, many return there during the day for religious
services in the two synagogues which are still used. (from Wikipedia and http://www.ghetto.it/ghetto/en/index.asp)
