Small-Group Walking Tour of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice
Description
The best 2 h Venice Jewish Ghetto tour experience you can book with a guide trained by the Jewish Ghetto community and Rabbi. An historical walk and immersion into the heart of the Jewish ghetto to discover the secrets of the 1st Jewish Ghetto of the world. We will avoid the tourist trail exploring an authentic, lesser-known, but incredible, well-preserved area of Venice, full of charme, enjoying the secret corners of the three ghettos of Venice. You will learn why the Republic forced the Jewish community to live under strict rules and how they lived for centuries in Cannaregio. Did you know that the word "ghetto" comes from a local venetian word? I will help you to recognize the hidden synagogues from outside and I will give you insights into the tragedy of the deportation and how the Holocaust left a deep mark. We will explore together Cannaregio, with its beautiful streets and the venetian "skyscrapers", we will cross beautiful bridges draped in the locals' laundry, Italian style.
Tour Options
Itinerary
You could spend a lifetime exploring Venice, and you'd never stop being surprised. What you'll going to love most about Cannaregio is that it still has quiet, secluded spots overlooking the lagoon, homes to local people and enchanting refuges for visitors: a less well known Venice, but no less fascinating. We will visit a fascinating green area to discover more about the history of the Venetian Jewish Community and how the district of Cannaregio looked like at the time of the ghetto
We will meet in an authentic Venetian campo. I am a local guide expert of the Jewish Ghetto area. Let's unveil the area to better understand why the Jewish Ghetto is in Cannaregio before entering to it, we will visit a greenish area you can't even imagine. Together we will discover the history of the Jewish Community of Venice, how the Jews lived before creating a ghetto, why and how Venice created the 1st ghetto of the world.
We will take a relaxing and unique walk through the three Ghettos of Venice (yes, they are three!) at the discovery of the history, curiosities and daily life and of past and the present of this charming area. I'll be sure to show you all of the highlights and hidden gems along the way! Do you know the origin of the word ghetto ? Why Venice created the first one of the history? Who was the Doge at that time? DO you want to recognize symbols of that time that only an expert knows? Do you want to listen curiosities about the great people lived here ? And maybe do you remember Merchant in Venice by Shaskeare? Jump into the past and fall in love with this historical and rich of memories area of the floating city. We won't visit the sinagogues or the museum inside but I will show you anyway great details and I will explain you how to visit them
Let' end our tour discovering the area from a different point of view and enjoy the local dailylife of Cannaregio off the beaten track.
We will discover the Venetian recipes of the Jewish ghetto, the unique biscuits made in the area and an artistic art gallery
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- On certain dates, most travelers staying outside of Venice who are planning to visit for the day will be required to pay a €5 access fee. For further details (including exemptions) and to learn what days this fee is applicable, please visit: https://cda.ve.it
Reviews(108)
Lucia was an amazing tour guide! She is so engaging, knowledgeable and genuinely passionate about explaining the history and stories of the Venice Jewish community. The small group size made it feel very personal and questions were encouraged and thoughtfully answered.
What an increíble, rich, and full experience we had with Lucia as our guide. We spent three hours hearing and seeing the three ghettos of Venice. We saw current day businesses, meeting and enjoying owners and patrons. We heard stories of past communities and struggles and how these impacted the people living here. Absolutely recommend this well rounded experience - money well spent.
Lucia was amazing. So friendly and helpful she went above and beyond even after the tour was over. She was awesome! The tour itself was fascinating! Loved it
This was truly an outstanding tour. Lucia, who is Jewish (that isn't always the case when you go on a tour of a Jewsih area), knew so much about the Ghetto. She described it's history and current life in the Ghetto, and took us to many historical and curent-day sights there. We have been on many tours of Jewish areas and we would rate this one as one of the best. We highly recommend that you go on this tour.
This is an exceptional tour and history lesson of the Jewish Community/Ghetto in Venice. Lucia is extremely knowledgeable and engaging. In addition to learning about centuries of history, we stopped at several current businesses and chatted with the owners, including a Jewish bakery and an artist studio. We loved everything about this tour and are still thinking about all that we learned.
We met the guide easily in a small square in a quiet part of Venice. Directions to meet were very good. There followed an interesting walk around the Ghetto area. Visiting a fascinating cat book shop, a Jewish bakery and visiting the main area of the Ghetto where the Jewish faith still practise and live on a day-to-day basis. Sombre in places when noting the monuments to atrocities but that is needed in such a tour. Very good overall.
Lucia was an amazing guide. Very knowledgeable and personable. Explained everything in great detail.
Our walking tour of the Jewish Ghetto with Lucia was exceptional. I was joined by my 13-year-old daughter, and it was wonderful to see how engaged she stayed throughout; Lucia is a true local has a profound knowledge of Venetian history and a wonderful eye for the city's subtle details. The experience was both beautiful and highly educational for both of us. To top it off, she provided us with amazing local restaurant recommendations. Highly recommended!
Thoroughly covers the old Jewish ghetto: its history, notable people and buildings, the old synagogues, and the relationship of the ghetto to the development and history of Venice.
Contrary to most other tour operators who cancelled their tours on me due to low demand amid the January lull, Lucia was gracious enough to dignify me with a one-on-one experience of the former ghetto. Highlights included a hidden, beautifully tranquil public park, a fantastic illustrator's studio who specializes in beguilingly colourful and wonderfully evocative scenes of Venetian Jewish life in times past (and present), as well as of course the atmospheric main square of the quarter commemorating the imprisonment, deportation and eventual massacring of a large number of Venetian Jews, as well as the everyday heroism of those unassuming record keepers and bureaucrats who by torching the census data and church records ensured that most managed to stay undetected. Lucia managed to nail the tone perfectly in my opinion to convey what had happened with both the required gravity as well as joie de vivre. She was also just very genial and generous with her tips and recommendations and took care to check up on me even several days later. Among all the gaudiness of the carnival and general tourist trade a markedly grounding, nourishing experience!
