VENICE

Jewish Venice

Life in Venice's Ghetto	Ethnic rivalries and synagogues	Freed by Napoleon, persecuted by Hitler
Visiting the Ghetto today	Reaching the Ghetto

Visiting the Ghetto today
The Jewish community in Venice has experienced a modest resurgence in recent years. About 500 Jews live in Venice, although the Ghetto itself has only about 30 Jewish residents. Religious services take place in either the Scuola Grande Spagnola or the Scuola Levantina. The neighborhood has several Jewish shops, a book publisher, a social center, a rest home for the elderly, a museum, a yeshiva, and the kosher Gam Gam restaurant (run by Lubavicher Jews from New York).

Tours of the Ghetto are available year-round at the Museo Comunità Ebraica (Jewish Community Museum) in the Campo Ghetto Nuovo, which has a large collection of religious objects and silverware. The tour has several morning and afternoon departures and lasts about 40 minutes. The price is a bit steep, but the three synagogues included in the tour are worth visiting if you're even remotely interested in Venetian history or Jewish culture. (You can also buy a combined ticket for the tour and the museum.)

TIPS:

Skip the tour if you aren't able to climb stairs, since the Ghetto Nuovo's synagogues were built above street level for reasons of space, security, and religious law. (The small inset photo at right shows the cupola of the Scuola Italiana; to see the façade, go to page 2.) If you're Jewish, enjoy kosher cooking, and can't afford the prices at the Gam Gam restaurant, you can arrange to buy meals or kosher food at the rest home. See the Jewish Community of Venice Web site (link on next page) for details.