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The Venetian Ghetto () was the area of Venice in which were forced to live by the government of the Venetian Republic. The English word ghetto is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. The Venetian Ghetto was instituted on 29 March 1516 by decree of Doge Leonardo Loredan and the Venetian Senate. It was not the first time that Jews in Venice were compelled to live in a segregated area of the city. In 1555, Venice had 160,208 inhabitants, including 923 Jews, who were mainly merchants.
Between 1541 and 1633, the Ghetto Vecchio and Ghetto Nuovo were made to accommodate the increase in Jewish immigration, but the total number of Jews in Italy did not exceed 25,000. The Jewish community in Venice did not exceed 5,000 until the early seventeenth century.
In 1797, the French Army of Italy, commanded by the 28-year-old General Napoleon Bonaparte, occupied Venice, forced the Venetian Republic to dissolve itself on 12 May 1797, and ended the ghetto's separation from the city on the 11th of July of the same year. In the 19th century, the ghetto was renamed the Contrada dell'unione.
The Oxford University Press etymologist Anatoly Liberman 2009 reviewed many theories and concluded that all were speculative.
Historian Donatella Calabi argued in the documentary Venice and the Ghetto (2017, Klaus T. Steindl) that ghetto comes from the Italian word gettare dʒet·ˈta:·re which means "throw away", because the area was before then a waste dump for foundries. The first Jewish arrivals were German and they pronounced the word ˈɡɛto—the spelling followed ("h" after "g" changes dʒ to ˈɡ). The same opinion was published in her book Venezia e il ghetto. Cinquecento anni del "recinto deli ebrei". Marcella Ansaldi, director of the Jewish Museum of Venice, endorses this theory in a history video.
The author of Ghetto: The History of a Word, Daniel B. Schwartz, endorses the theories that the term ghetto did not emerge as a result of Jewish resident segregation, but rather, that the word is a relic of a history that preceded the arrival of the Jewish residents. Schwartz states that the strongest argument in support of this is how the original area to which Jews were restricted was called the Ghetto Nuovo, and not the Ghetto Vecchio. "Were it otherwise, one would expect that the first site of the Jewish enclosure would have been known as the 'Old Ghetto' and the subsequent addition as the 'New Ghetto.'"
that all the Jews who are at present living in different parishes within our city, and all others who may come here … shall be obliged to go at once to dwell together in the houses in the court within the Geto at San Hieronimo, where there is plenty of room for them to live… . The Jews may not keep an inn in any part of the city, save the GetoAccording to the Venetian Senate, this was necessary to avoid what it described as "misdemeanours and detestable and abominable acts":
Given the urgent needs of the present times, the said Jews have been permitted to come and live in Venice, and the main purpose of this concession was to preserve the property of Christians which was in their hands. But no godfearing subject of our state would have wished them, after their arrival, to disperse throughout the city, sharing houses with Christians and going wherever they choose by day and night, perpetrating all those misdemeanours and detestable and abominable acts which are generally known and shameful to describe, with grave offence to the Majesty of God and uncommon notoriety on the part of this well-ordered Republic.The decree ordered that the Jews would be locked into the ghetto overnight and be subject to Christian surveillance. The decree also stipulated that "the Jews must pay a rent which will be higher by one third than that received at present by the landlords of the aforesaid houses." Jews were legally forbidden from owning real estate, but could obtain—through a socially and ecclesiastically sanctioned legal arrangement called the Chazakah]]—a contract similar to a permanent lease that could be bought and sold as well as inherited; Jews had to pay the high rent of their apartments in the ghetto in perpetuity.
Languages historically spoken in the confines of the Ghetto include Venetian, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Spanish, French language, and Yiddish. In addition, Hebrew is used on signage, inscriptions, and for official purposes such as wedding contracts and religious services. Today, English is widely used in the shops and the Museum because of the large number of English-speaking tourists.
A large part of Venetian Jewish culture at this time was shaped by navigating restrictions on their freedoms. Life in the Venetian Ghetto was restrictive, and movement of Jews outside of the ghetto was difficult. Inspired by lives of Jewish merchants outside of Venice, Rodriga, a prominent Jewish Spanish merchant, took on the role of advocating for Venetian Jews to have rights similar to others in different locations. Rodriga cited that Jews played a part in the Italian economy which could not be ignored. In return for the changing of Jewish restrictions, Rodriga promised that the Venetian economy and commerce would increase.
Every year, there is an international conference on Hebrew Studies, with particular reference to the history and culture of the Veneto. Other conferences, exhibitions and seminars are held throughout the year.
The temples not only serve as places of worship but also provide lessons on the sacred texts and the Talmud for both children and adults, along with courses in Modern Hebrew, while other social facilities include a kindergarten, an old people's home, the kosher guest house Rimon Place, the kosher restaurant Ba Ghetto Venezia, and the bakery Volpe. Along with its architectural and artistic monuments, the community also boasts a Museum of Jewish Art, the Renato Maestro Library and Archive and the new Info Point inside the Midrash Leon da Modena.
In the Ghetto area there is also a yeshiva, several Judaica shops, and a Chabad synagogue run by Chabad of Venice. Chabad of Venice Although few Venetian Jews still live in the Ghetto, Jewish Venice many return there during the day for Jewish services at the two synagogues still actively used for worship (the other three are only used for guided tours, offered by the Jewish Community Museum).
Chabad of Venice also runs a pastry shop and a restaurant named "Gam Gam" in the Ghetto. Shabbat meals are served at the restaurant's outdoor tables along the Cannaregio Canal with views of the Guglie Bridge near the Grand Canal.Rick Steves' Venice, Rick Steves, Avalon Travel, 2007, p. 40.Friends Find Real Flavor of Europe, Jewish Journal of Greater L.A., 15 July 2004. In the novel Much Ado About Jesse Kaplan, the restaurant is the site of a historical mystery. Canal boats carrying a sukkah and a menorah tour the city annually during the festivals of Sukkot and Hanukkah, respectively.
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