Venice: The Ghetto

At the beginning of the 16^th Century, a debate raged in the city of Venice about whether Jews, who had lived alongside Christians for centuries, should be permitted to remain in the city, or, as was happening in other parts of Europe, should be expelled. One faction was for expulsion, while objectors wanted them to continue to live there.

The two sides reached a compromise, deciding to establish a special segregated community for Jews.

The site was to be carefully chosen. It must not be located in the heart of the city, but on its outskirts. There should be no Christian churches or consecrated grounds. Above all, it must be easy to demarcate and surveil.

They chose il geto, an abandoned, dilapidated area formerly designated for copper production. In the Venetian dialect, geto meant a place where the slag from copper processing was thrown away. Thus, in 1516, the ghetto was born.

For the Jews who arrived there, there were only dilapidated houses, dirt, and trash. From that moment on, this is where they would live.

Venice imposed heavy conditions on the Jews living in the ghetto. They were paying guests who were required to provide loans and pay heavy tributes.

The ghetto opened at dawn and closed at sunset, with guards watching over it. At the sound of the bell of St. Mark, the gates of the ghetto were closed: anyone remaining outside could be subject to the Inquisition.

The gates were not the only measure to physically isolate the neighborhood from Christian Venice. There were also boats manned by Christian guards—paid by the Jews but chosen by the Venetian Republic—to monitor the closure of the gates and windows.

The ghetto was a true city within the city. It became a cultural center where music, poetry, philosophical studies, Kabbalistic studies, and relations with the Christian world developed.

At the time, Venetian society had a desperate need for credit, yet lending money at interest was prohibited by the Church on biblical grounds.

However, the power of the church had its limits. In the Venetian Republic, trade was more important than true faith: certain transgressions were not punished as harshly as elsewhere. When it came to profits, the rigid morality of the time became flexible.

The church considered lending money at interest a mortal sin, the reasoning went, but Jews were already sinners by their very nature. What difference would a few more sins make? Thus, Venice decided to offer Jews the opportunity to stay in the city only if they agreed to become professional moneylenders.

The Venice ghetto was also a place of passage for travelers from different worlds: German Jews, lenders, Jews forcibly converted to Christianity who had returned to Judaism. It was a complex world of lenders and traders that would have fundamental importance in the culture and economy of the following centuries.

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