The Spanish Synagogue of Venice

Ba'Ghetto Venezia is located at Via Cannaregio 2873/c, in the splendid Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, and is a reference point for those who follow a kosher diet and for those who want to experience a different cuisine and culture. The kitchen offers typical dishes of the Jewish-Roman tradition , with some homages to Venetian cuisine and interesting seasonal menus, thus offering a diversified range of dishes capable of satisfying all customers. In addition to meat and fish dishes, the menu also offers tasty vegetarian and lactose-free options . Ba'Ghetto's kosher cuisine offers a safe and tasty option for delicious homemade desserts made with parve ingredients,

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The only kosher residence in Venice. (Kosher L'mehadrin)

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The Jewish Museum of Venice was founded immediately after the war, conceived as a sign of renewed confidence in the future of Judaism and human dignity. Some members of the Venetian community, survivors of the horrors of the Holocaust, worked to organize Italy's first Jewish museum: two rooms in a building adjacent to the Ghetto's three oldest synagogues—the German Synagogue, the Canton Synagogue, and the Italian Synagogue—were furnished with treasures rescued from Nazi-Fascist barbarity. These included silver objects used for worship and antique textiles, a few photographs, and no mention of the tragic years just passed.

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Built in 1575, the last of the synagogues built under the Venetian Republic in the Ghetto Novo, it is clearly recognizable from the exterior by its five large arched windows reminiscent of the Scola Grande Tedesca and by a small Baroque dome surmounting the apse. Above, a coat of arms with the inscription: "Holy Italian Community in the year 1575" and a small plaque "in memory of the destruction of the Temple." In the small entrance we read a nineteenth-century-style admonition: “Humble in deed and with sure faith, let every pious person come here to lay down his prayers, and even when he turns his foot elsewhere, let him always keep his thoughts turned to God.” The Scola Italiana, shaped like a slightly elongated rectangle, has a noble and severe appearance due to the simple austerity of its benches, the notable Sacred Ark decorated with elegant wooden friezes and culminating in a heavy gable, and the beautiful eighteenth-century pulpit that protrudes from a polygonal apse. Elegant balustrades, with a motif of crossed arches typical of 18th-century Venetian furniture, adorn the pulpit stairs, while the lowered grates of the small matroneum recall those of the Scola Canton. The Scola has recently been brought back to life thanks to the contribution of Save Venice as part of the conservative restoration of the Jewish Museum complex in Venice. Hours Monday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Tuesday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Wednesday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Thursday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Friday 9:00-11:00

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Begun in 1531 and completed in 1532, it was enlarged and enriched in the following centuries until 1780. Similar to the Scola Grande Tedesca, it was also of the Ashkenazi rite, which indicates how large the community that followed this rite was: moreover, in 1700 there is talk of five synagogues of the German rite. On the entrance portal we read the inscription: “The year of its construction 5292 (1532) of the synagogue of the Holy Canton Community”. To the left of the entrance is the Holy Ark with a very dense and even too heavy decoration, while on the right the very graceful pulpit (tevah) with floral-style ornaments protrudes from a polygonal apse supported by four original columns of intertwined branches. The women's gallery is located here on the wall above the entrance door, but it's almost unnoticeable, because the proportions of this small temple are so precise that the women's gallery's grilles seem to blend in with the ornamental motif that runs along the walls, below the cornice. Various inscriptions and plaques commemorate the successive phases of restoration of this precious temple. On the doors of the Aron, as in the German School, the following is engraved inside: "Keter Torah" (crown of the Law), a crown in the center, and the Ten Commandments below. The small panels above, starting from the wall opposite the entrance, contain inscriptions and depictions from the Bible, relating to Moses bringing water from the rock, the altar of sacrifice, the Red Sea, Jerusalem, and so on. As we leave, we read a warning: “Now you return, go in peace and do no harm.” Outside, on the road, on the left, a small plaque reads: “Many are the calamities of the wicked, but he who hopes in the Lord will be surrounded by mercy” (Psalm XXXII, 10). Hours Monday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Tuesday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Wednesday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Thursday 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Friday 9:00-11:00

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Built by Jews who came from the Eastern countries in the second half of the 16th century and restored around 1680, it is probably the only one that retains almost all of its original features and is the only one that is also notable externally with its two simple and severe facades interrupted by three orders of windows and the polygonal aedicule, a typical element of Venetian architecture, called “diagò” or “liagò”, and which is also found in the other Scole. In the atrium of the Scola, adorned with a precious ceiling, we read two very ancient plaques: "If you understand, O man, your end in the world and show mercy with your pocket through silent donations, then your cup will be filled with goodness and you will be crowned." The second, above the casket, reads: "Donation of the Company of Piety and Mercy." Another plaque was placed in 1884 in commemoration of Sir Moses Montefiore's visit to Venice on July 1, 1875. On the right we enter the Luzzatto Yeshiva, a small, perfect study and prayer room, moved here from its original location in the late 19th century and kept intact over time. Begun in the second half of the sixteenth century, the Scola was restored at the end of the following century by the school of Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732), from Belluno, the most famous cabinetmaker of the period. Of singular beauty and grandeur, the Tevah stands on a high base richly crafted with floral motifs. Other motifs twist around the two columns, reminiscent of those in Solomon's Temple, which support a severe architrave. Two flights of stairs, with a softly curved line, lead to the pulpit level. High above the entrance wall, the women's gallery runs, once closed by grates. The ceiling, with its repeated wooden decorations and gilding, is also noteworthy. The Dutch chandeliers, brass torches, and beautiful silver lamps hung around the Ark help to blend the various elements that compose this synagogue, exuding a unique charm and sense of contemplation. Hours Monday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Tuesday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Wednesday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Thursday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Friday 9:00-11:00

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The Spanish Synagogue is the largest and best-known of the Venetian synagogues. Construction, begun in 1555 or 1584, according to Roth, was completely rebuilt a century later (1635 or 1654) with solutions reminiscent of those employed by the school of Baldassare Longhena (1598-1682), architect of numerous Venetian schools and palaces (such as the School of San Nicolò dei Greci and that of Santa Maria dei Carmini, Ca' Pesaro, now the Museum of Modern Art, and Ca' Rezzonico, now the Museum of 18th-Century Venice, and the very famous Church of the Madonna della Salute). On the arch of the entrance portal we read the inscription: "Blessed are those who dwell in Your House and who continually praise You" (Psalm 84:5). In the atrium, on the left, is the Midrash Coanim, which retains its original character intact. Some restorations in the last century, especially the installation of the organ in place of the original pulpit, have partially altered its harmony. The organ was installed in 1893, distorting the original bimah. It was removed in 1980 and the old bimah was restored, partly to eliminate the female choir, according to Rabbi Artom's wishes. A women's gallery runs all around the hall, giving a unified line to the entire space: the motif, which is not part of traditional synagogue architecture, recalls that of the Scola Grande Tedesca: it is possible that Longhena was inspired by it, perhaps at the request of the client who wanted to emulate the magnificence of the first synagogue built in the Ghetto. Hours Monday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Tuesday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Wednesday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Thursday: 9:00-11:00 / 14:00-16:00 Friday 9:00-11:00

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The German synagogue is the oldest in Venice, created in 1528 for the first communities of Jews who moved to the Serenissima from Central Europe. The Scola Grande Tedesca was built by an Ashkenazi group in 1958 who followed the Ashkenazi tradition, according to which the pulpit (bema) must be placed in the center of the hall, under a dome with a roof lantern to let light in. Remodeled from 1732-1733 and again in the 19th century, it was restored in thee 20th century. Plaques on the stairs inside document these changes. The Museum of Jewish Art is also in the building off the Scola Grande Tedesca. A bookshop and cafeteria are on the ground floor. The museum, synagogues and the cemetery on the Lido can be visited on guided tours. The museum itself has several rooms with collections of fabrics and silver ceremonial objects and furnishings, ketuboth, and other manuscripts. The synagogues, and the ghetto as well may be considered as key parts of one superb museum. The Jewish Museum hosts guided tours of the area’s synagogues

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The Ghetto Novo is the area of the city to which, in 1516, the Jewish population of Venice was forced to move. The first ghetto in Europe, it stands on an island demarcated by the canals of Rio San Girolamo, Rio Ghetto Novo and Rio del Battello. A sottoportico (typical Venetian passageway under houses) and a bridge closed by gates were the only way out to the rest of the city. Today Ghetto Novo is also joined to the squares called Ghetto Veecchio and Ghetto Novissimo by two bridges. Venice was the first city in the world to force Jews to live in a “ghetto,” a Venetian word that spread worldwide through the Diaspora. Ghetto came to stand for a separate quarter, gates and custodians, discrimination and poverty. The Venice ghetto was a very large quarter, and is one of the few to have survived in its original urban form. For centuries there were groups of different Jews living side by side: Germans, Levantines, and Ponentines – the so-called nations. Initially, seven hundred Jews of Italian and Central European descent lived there. However, the population expanded rapidly following later waves of migration. At its peak, the end of the 17tth century, the Venetian ghetto had attracted 4,000 to 5,000 people who came from Italy, Germany, France, Spain and the Ottoman Empire. In the 18th century, increasing tax pressure put the community into such dire economic straits that in 1735 it declared itself bankrupt In 1797, Napoleon’s troops pulled own the gates of the ghetto, marking the beginning of emancipation. After the unity of Italy and with the economic decline of Venice, the community bean to dwindle and became less influential. In 1931 there were 1,800 people but by the end of the Second World War there were 1,000 and today there are less than 500. The community still has a very lively cultural life, however, and attracts visitors from all over the world because of its unique artistic heritage. The heart of the ghetto was the trapezoid campo, a square enclosed by tall buildings was where daily life took place with synagogues, workshops, pawnbrokers and wells for the water supply. There were three wells, shops, loan-banks, (note the sign of the Banco Rosso at number 2912) and synagogues. Today only some of the buildings and synagogues in the square have their original appearance: Scola Tedesca, Scola Canton, and Scola Italiana. There are five synagogues in the Ghetto of Venice, one for each of the different ethnic groups that made up the Jewish community of the city in the 16th and 17th centuries. The synagogues were the symbols of these different cultural identities, as they could be considered simultaneously a “House of the community” (Beit Knesset), a “House of prayer” (Beit Tefillah) and a “House of Study” (Beit Midrash). Due to the limited space of the Venetian Ghetto: the synagogues are not separate, dedicated buildings. Instead, they had to be built inside preexisting structures and reached through private homes. Even today, therefore, some of them are quite difficult to detect from the outside. In Venice, as well as in many other countries in the past, Jews were not allowed to be artisans, architects or artists. Their places of worship were therefore created by non-Jewish people. You can visit the Ghetto and its historic buildings by taking part in guided tours with fixed departure WITH ENTRANCE to the Levantine and Spanish Synagogue. On Friday you can visit the Levantine and Italian Synagogue. Advance sale fee € 2.00 Full price € 15.00 – Tour in English every hour from 10.00 with last entry at 17.00 – Tour in Italian every hour from 10.30 with last entry at 17.30

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