Venetian Ghetto

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A store window in Venice's Jewish ghetto.

The inside of the Jewish museum in Venice's ghetto.

The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jewish people were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. From its name, the word "ghetto" is derived.

The Ghetto is an area of the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice. It is named for the "campo gheto" an area that iron foundries located there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries used for cooling slag (Venetian "gheta"; Italian "ghetta"; from Latin GLITTU[M], GLITTUS).

Unlike much of Europe, the presence of Jews was usually tolerated in Venice from the late fourteenth century. Restrictions on their movement and permitted trades varied, but moneylending, running pawnshops, dealing in second hand goods and tailoring were common occupations. However, following the influx of Sephardi Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, some public figures talked of deporting or isolating the Venetian Jews. Surrounded by canals, the area was only linked to the rest of the city by two bridges, which were closed from midnight until dawn and during certain Christian festivals, when all Jews were required to stay in the Ghetto.

Despite the restrictions on movement and terribly cramped conditions, the Jewish population thrived, and in 1541, the quarter was enlarged to cover the neighbouring Ghetto Vecchio, and in 1633, the Ghetto Nuovissimo was also added.

The area had such a dense population that – uniquely in Venice – buildings rose to six or more stories. There were numerous benevolent institutions, and it is still home to five synagogues connected by a secret corridor. They are known for their interiors, the oldest (Schola Grande Tedesca) dating from 1528. Most have fairly plain exteriors, although the Scola Levantina is a grander, Baroque building. The Scola Spagnola now contains the Museum of Hebrew Art.

During Napoleon Bonaparte's occupation of Venice in 1797, the gates enclosing the Ghetto were demolished, but Venetian Jews did not gain full citizenship rights until 1818. For the rest of the 19th century, the population of the Ghetto declined steeply and many of the buildings fell into disrepair.

1 Etymology
2 In fiction
- 2.1 Reception
3 External links

[edit] Etymology

See:

Ariel Toaff, "Getto - Ghetto," The American Sephardi 6:1/2 (1973): 71-77.
Sandra Debenedetti-Stow, The etymology of “ghetto”: new evidence from Rome, Jewish History, Volume 6, Issue 1 - 2, Mar 1992, Pages 79 - 85, DOI 10.1007/BF01695211, URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01695211
DIETRO LE PAROLE - GLOBALIZZAZIONE di Francesco Varanini URL http://www.francescovaranini.com/base.asp?pageid=2_35

[edit] In fiction

William Shakespeare's Anti-Judaistic play The Merchant of Venice, written ca. 1595, features Shylock, a Venetian Jew.

[edit] Reception

Hugo Pratt: Venezianische Legende. Corto Maltese. Bd 8. Novel. Carlson, Hamburg 1985, 1998. ISBN 3-551-71669-2
Mirjam Pressler: Shylocks Tochter. Venedig im Jahre 1568. Novel. Alibaba Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, Bertelsmann, München 2005. ISBN 3-570-30172-9
Rainer Maria Rilke: Eine Szene aus dem Ghetto. in: Rilke: Geschichten von lieben Gott. Insel, Leipzig 1931, Argon, Berlin 2006. (div. weitere Ausg.) ISBN 3-86610-045-0