Museo Ebraico & The Jewish Ghetto

Lonely Planet review

A modest collection of Jewish religious silverware can be found at the Jewish Museum. Opened in 1955, it has been enriched down the years with donations of material used in private prayer and to decorate synagogues. The guided tours (in Italian or English; other languages if booked in advance) of the Ghetto and three of its synagogues that leave from the museum are a must, allowing you to enter a unique world.

On top of three buildings in Campo del Ghetto Nuovo are three modest schole (literally, schools; synagogues). The Schola Tedesca (German Synagogue) is above the building that now houses the Museo Ebraico. Virtually next door is the Schola Canton (Corner Synagogue) and further around is the Schola Italiana (Italian Synagogue). The last, which is on the tour, is the simplest. The largely destitute Italian Jews concerned had come from Spanish-controlled southern Italy. The synagogues can be distinguished from the residential housing by the small domes that indicate the position of the pulpit (easily visible in the case of the Schola Canton). In the case of the German and Italian ones, the rows of five larger windows are another sign.

Jews from Portugal and Spain who arrived in the 16th century raised two more synagogues, renovated in the 17th century, it is thought, by Longhena and considered the most beautiful synagogues in northern Italy.